


A Very 1D Christmas

by justyrae



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, One Direction (Band), Radio 1 RPF
Genre: Angst, Bickering, Blow Jobs, Candy Canes, Christmas Caroling, Christmas Decorations, Denial of Feelings, Dirty Talk, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Hand Jobs, Hurt/Comfort, Ice Skating, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Kissing, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mistletoe, Multi, Pining, Public Hand Jobs, Secret Crush, Secret Relationship, Secret Santa, Sledding, Snow Angels, Snowball Fight, Snowmen, Teasing, Ugly Holiday Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-01
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-02-27 15:44:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 47,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2698367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of holiday-related stories, featuring a different pairing each day for 25 days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. You Better Not Pout

**Author's Note:**

> A, I never could've done this without you.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam and Louis are out buying decorations when Liam's mum calls and accidentally causes a fight about their holiday plans.

"You're absolutely mad, Louis," Liam said with a laugh, "we've got plenty of lights as it is." 

"We do not!" Louis replied indignantly. "One string across the front window is hardly _plenty_."

"Alright, alright." Liam rolled his eyes but smiled fondly. "We're here, aren't we?"

Louis smiled widely as Liam opened the door for him, letting him lead the way into the shop. Louis immediately demanded for Liam to get a cart, and a voice in the back of Liam's mind told him that he was already in far over his head.

He understood, to an extent; it was their first proper Christmas together as a couple and that definitely meant a lot to the both of them. Christmas was special enough with Louis' birthday, and Liam wanted to make sure their first one was absolutely _perfect_.

Everything was going swimmingly; Louis was tossing all sorts of decorations into their cart and talking a mile a minute about where they were all going to go while Liam nodded along. Louis had just grabbed yet _another_ set of twinkly lights when Liam's phone rang and after seeing it was his mum, he had to answer.

"Hi mum!" he answered warmly, rolling his eyes when Louis shouted "HI MAMA PAYNE!"

Louis grinned smugly as Liam mumbled, "yes, that was Louis. He's buying all the twinkly lights in London."

"I am not!" Louis snapped, tossing in another packet of lights just to spite him. Liam laughed, pulling the phone away from his ear to sneak a quick kiss against Louis' cheek.

"Yeah, I got your email, mum." Liam turned away, but Louis couldn't help but eavesdrop on the conversation. "Yeah, I told you, we're coming for Christmas dinner."

Louis' ears perked up and he froze halfway to reaching for a set of ornaments on the top shelf. Liam, unaware of why Louis had paused, assumed he couldn't reach and grabbed the box Louis had been going for and tossed it into the cart. When Louis stared at him he smiled, too distracted by his mum's voice in his ear to see the glare in Louis' eye.

"Mum, m'being rude, I've got to go. I'll call you later, yeah? Love you."

Louis was positively fuming by the time Liam hung up the phone, and he could hardly even look him in the eye. He stalked off into another aisle, leaving Liam slightly behind and not responding when he called.

"Lou, everything okay?" Liam asked when he caught up to where Louis was tapping his foot impatiently in front of a display of lawn decorations. "We don't even have a lawn," he said with a soft laugh.

"Your _mum's_ got a lawn, doesn't she?" he snapped.

"My...mum?"

"Yeah. You could bring it to her on Christmas."

"I could--" Liam blinked. "What're you on about?"

"When were you going to tell me that we were going to your mum's house for Christmas?" Louis cried. "I can't _believe_ you agreed to it without telling me!"

"I just-- But--" Liam gulped. "But I always spend Christmas with my mum and dad."

"But what about _my_ mum?" Louis went on. "You know how important Christmas is to me and my family!"

Liam glanced around nervously; Louis' voice was growing steadily in volume and rapidly drawing attention. He didn't really want to have this argument in the first place, and he most certainly didn't want to have it _in public_.

"Louis, can we talk about this--"

"We're not going to your mum's," Louis interrupted. "Call her back right now."

"What--" Liam's mouth dropped open and he laughed nervously. "You're joking."

"Absolutely not." Louis crossed his arms. "I always spend Christmas with my family. It's non-negotiable."

"You can't be serious." He scoffed. "I'm not calling my mum and cancelling. She'll be crushed!"

"Serves you right! You're the one who promised without even consulting me!" Louis shouted.

Liam closed his eyes and took a deep breath, acutely aware of how many people were staring at them now. "Lou, would you please lower your voice?"

"I will not!" Louis shouted even louder this time, only then realizing they'd drawn the attention of nearly every person in the store. Louis looked around, breathing heavily as he turned back to Liam and gave an angry cry before storming off towards the exit.

"Louis!" Liam called, looking back and forth between Louis' retreating form and the cart full of decorations before running after Louis, abandoning the cart in the aisle.

He didn't manage to catch up to Louis until they were both outside, and even then it took several tries to get Louis to actually stop walking away. Liam grabbed onto Louis' arm and spun him around, making him still but not succeeding in getting Louis to look at him.

"What about the cart?" Liam asked softly. He knew how much the decorations meant to Louis and he couldn't quite fathom how Louis could just run off like he had.

Louis picked his gaze up from the ground and glared at Liam before giving him a hard shove that knocked him back more than Liam thought possible.

"Doesn't matter now, does it?" he spat. "We obviously aren't spending Christmas together so why bother buying all those decorations?!"

Louis spun on his heel and stalked off again, but this time Liam was right on his tail.

"I don't know why you're so upset about this, Lou--"

" _That's_ obvious," Louis snapped. "You never think about anyone but yourself--"

"You _know_ that's not true!" Liam interrupted. "It's just my mum always looks forward to having everyone home for Christmas, and--"

"It's always about you!" Louis cried. "Your family, your traditions, you, you, you!"

"You're no bloody different!" Liam shouted, finally losing his temper. "I don't remember you telling me we were going to your mum's either!"

"Oh, so it's all my fault?" Louis laughed coldly. "That's right, blame it all on me!"

"I'm not--" Liam groaned angrily. "This isn't about who's to blame!"

"No, this is about you and me not spending Christmas together!"

"Stop saying that! We _are_ spending Christmas together!"

"Oh really?" Louis spun around, coming to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk and jabbing Liam in the chest. "In what universe are we spending Christmas together?"

"This one! We'll make it work!"

"Not unless you call your mum right now and--"

"M'not doing that, Lou." Liam gritted his teeth and Louis huffed loudly, crossing his arms again and glaring at Liam.

"Then we're not having Christmas together."

Louis turned his back on Liam and started walking down the sidewalk again. He only got a few steps away before being stopped by a man dressed as Santa who offered him a candy cane.

"Merry Christmas!" he wished warmly, smiling at Louis and still holding out the candy cane. Liam watched as Louis glanced from the sweet in his outstretched hand up to the man's face, glaring almost as harshly at him as he had at Liam moments before.

"Not bloody likely," he grumbled, knocking the candy cane to the ground and stomping off.

"Louis!" Liam exclaimed, quickly running up to the man dressed as Santa and apologizing profusely while Louis stopped in his tracks and turned around.

He knew how Liam felt about the idea of Santa Claus; he remembered how he'd laughed the first time Liam insisted that Santa was, in fact, real. Louis had thought that Liam was joking - which is why he'd laughed - but the sincere look on Liam's face didn't fade, and Louis' laughter slowly died and he realized that Liam hadn't lost that childhood innocence. At the time, it was endearing. Now, in the midst of one of the worst arguments they'd ever had, it did nothing but fuel Louis' anger.

"What're you doing?" he demanded as he watched Liam fumble with searching for his wallet in the pockets of his winter coat.

"You can't treat Santa like that!" Liam said with a sigh as he pulled a few bills and stuffed them into the little red bin on the ground. "He just offered you a candy cane!"

"I don't _want_ the candy cane! I _want_ my boyfriend to _want_ to spend Christmas with me and my family!"

"I do!" Liam sighed in frustration. "It's not that I don't want to, Lou. You know that."

"I don't," Louis remarked with a half shrug. "I don't know anything anymore, because I'd have thought for sure that you would've run this by me before making plans with your mum."

"Oh my god, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?"

"At least once would be nice!" Louis cried. "Not once have I heard it tonight!"

"I'm sorry!" Liam shouted, throwing his hands up into the air. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He sighed heavily. "There. Satisfied?"

"Pardon me." Liam and Louis turned their attention to the Santa standing beside them, both seemingly forgotten he was there until that moment. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Excuse me," Louis said with a scoff, "I don't think--"

"We're arguing about Christmas," Liam interrupted, turning to face Santa while Louis stared at the pair of them with utter confusion. "Louis is mad because I told my mum we'd go to hers, and he thought we'd be going to his mum's."

"You didn't tell him before you agreed?" Santa asked calmly, his eyes still twinkling with joy as he looked back and forth between the two.

"No," Liam mumbled, feeling sheepish. "I didn't think--"

"See?!" Louis exclaimed. "He didn't think! He didn't even ask me!"

"You've every right to be frustrated, Louis. Christmas is very important," Santa answered calmly. "Especially with your birthday."

"Yes! Thank you!" Louis sighed. "Santa gets it! Not only are you ruining Christmas, but my birthday as well!"

"M'not trying to ruin anything!" Liam protested. "I just wanted a nice Christmas with you and my family."

"I wanted that too, with _my_ family." Louis frowned. "It's just not fair."

"How about this?" Santa interrupted gently. "Spend Christmas Eve with Louis' family - it is his birthday, after all - and then Christmas Day with Liam's?"

Louis and Liam both remained silent for a moment, slowly turning to face each other with identical hesitant smiles. It all seemed so simple now; each one felt incredibly foolish for blowing things out of proportion when the solution was so ridiculously easy.

"My mum usually does the big dinner on Christmas Eve anyway," Louis mumbled, looking down at his feet as he scuffed his shoes against the sidewalk. "Since it _is_ my birthday and all."

"And I'm sure my mum wouldn't mind us showing up on Christmas morning," Liam said as he took a step towards Louis, his smile growing steadily larger when Louis didn't pull away.

Liam wrapped his arms around Louis' waist and Louis did the same, letting out a soft laugh when Liam rubbed their noses together. Louis closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Liam's, sighing softly and tightening his grip around Liam.

"M'sorry," Liam whispered, pulling back just enough so he could press his lips against Louis' forehead.

"Me too," Louis mumbled back. "M'very defensive about Christmas."

"Really?" Liam asked in a mildly sarcastic tone. "I couldn't tell."

They both laughed; Louis pinched the small of Liam's back and Liam squawked in return, making Louis laugh even louder. He went to pinch Liam again, but this time Liam managed to reach around and grab Louis' hand before he could.

Liam tilted his head down to give Louis a soft kiss on the lips, smiling widely when Louis squeezed his hand tightly.

It was then that Liam realized they'd entirely forgotten the whole reason they'd made up was thanks to the man dressed as Santa, who they'd been ignoring for the last few minutes. He turned, ready to say thank you, only to see that he'd disappeared.

"Wait," Liam said as he looked up and down the street. "Where'd he go?"

"Dunno," Louis replied as he gave the street a quick once-over. "S'weird, innit?"

"Yeah," Liam said with a soft exhale. He leaned in for another kiss when a thought popped into his head and he paused halfway.

"What?" Louis asked, puzzled as to why Liam wasn't kissing him.

"I didn't mention your birthday." He blinked. "Did you?"

Louis opened his mouth, then promptly closed it and snickered. "No, I didn't."

"Y'know what this means, right?" Liam grinned and Louis rolled his eyes.

"It wasn't--"

"It was Santa!"

"Liam," Louis groaned. "Santa does not hang around London, waiting to settle people's arguments."

"You never know."

"I do know, because he's not real."

"Shh!" Liam clasped his hand over Louis' mouth. "Don't ruin it."

Louis rolled his eyes, but didn't say another word about it after Liam pulled his hand away.

"It's cold," Louis said with a shiver.

"It's getting late." Liam pulled Louis close and squeezed him tightly. "What d'you say we go back to the shop and get those lights you wanted?"

"Yeah?" Louis asked with a smile and Liam nodded as he gently tugged Louis down the street back in the direction they'd come. "D'you think our cart's still there?"

"Maybe, but if not I'm sure you'll find everything we need."


	2. All The Fellas That I Haven't Kissed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam gets a little jealous of Niall and his mistletoe.

Liam doesn't get _jealous_ , is the thing. It's just not in his nature, or so he thought. But he doesn't think it really counts as jealousy when it's on behalf of one of your best mates, right? At least, that's what he keeps telling himself.

It's just not his fault; he's not the one running around with mistletoe at Harry's party, demanding kisses from everyone. He would've expected this from Harry, maybe even from Louis but definitely not Niall.

Well, at least not when Niall and Zayn recently came out (to the band, anyway) with their relationship thing.

_It's not a thing_ , Liam reminds himself, _it's a proper relationship_.

He groans inwardly as he catches Niall kissing yet another person - surely he's kissed nearly everyone at the party by now, male and female alike, he's got to be done soon - while Zayn looks on with a smile on his face. Liam can't help but feel a bit outraged on Zayn's behalf; just where exactly does Niall get off?

He's ninety percent sure his face just turned bright red at the very idea of Niall getting off, because when Zayn catches his eye he grins widely.

"Having fun?" he asks, gently nudging Liam with his elbow.

"Loads," Liam says as he does his best to swallow down all the other responses he could've come up with. The very last thing he needs is to cause a scene at Harry's party. It really is a lovely party, all things considered.

The house is decked from head to toe with Christmas decorations - and given the sheer size of Harry's house, that's definitely not an easy task. Upon his arrival, Liam wondered if Harry had been the one to put all of it up or whether he'd had someone come in and do it for him.

If it had been him, he probably would've hired someone. But since this was _Harry_ , Liam just couldn't be too sure. After all, he'd seen the ridiculous decorations he'd done in the flat he and Louis shared after X-Factor - a mixture for Christmas and Louis' birthday.

Louis didn't shut up about it for weeks.

But that was years ago and this is here and now, and Liam's desperately trying not to seem like he's in a strop. He's also trying not to actually _be_ in a strop about this whole thing but it's really bloody hard.

When Zayn turns his attention away from Liam, he lets himself breathe a small sigh of relief. There's not much to feel relieved about, to be honest, but Liam has to do something. Part of him wishes he were drinking tonight just so he could have a good reason as to why his cheeks are so red - but he'd promised his mum that he wouldn't show up at her house the following day with a hangover so he has to deal.

Of course, now that he's thinking about being drunk, he's starting to wonder if this really is jealousy rearing its ugly little head.

It's just not _fair_. He'd been rather taken aback by the news of Zayn and Niall having a thing ( _relationship_ , Liam reminds himself) - but mainly because he thought they'd been closer than that. Liam couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by not finding out before the rest of the lads, or even not being able to notice the little hints they'd given at there even _being_ a thing between them.

Liam tries not to think of himself as being utterly thick - god knows he's got the rest of the world to do it for him - but when it comes to things like this, it's a bit hard not to.

Sure, over the years they've all had their fair share of snogging sessions. Liam can't quite remember what it was like to actually feel _nervous_ around the lads anymore, especially with the number of times he's seen them all naked.

Now it's different. It's not like it hasn't _been_ different for months, and they've all had plenty of time to process that. The difference is, while Liam was rather upset about the whole thing and processing on his own, it turned out that Zayn and Niall had decided the rule didn't apply to them.

Maybe that was why Liam was so miserable about the whole thing; he felt betrayed by the two of them. Now here he was, watching Niall mess about with everyone in the room while Zayn stood by completely nonchalant.

"Liam?"

Zayn's voice startles Liam a bit, enough that he jerks at the sound of it and sends Zayn into a tiny fit of giggles. Liam glares at him without any heat behind it, pushing Zayn's hand away when he reaches out to grip his shoulder.

"You good?" Zayn asks as he eyes Liam warily.

"Yeah," Liam mumbles back as he steals another quick glance at Niall, who's busy with Harry. Liam hates the way his chest feels tight as he watches Niall hold Harry against a wall and hold the mistletoe over them with a snide grin, eagerly pressing their lips together while the rest of the room ignores them.

Liam huffs out an annoyed sigh and turns in the other direction, even away from Zayn. It's all too much, too fast and Liam just needs a minute to himself.

"You're not," Zayn's voice is suddenly in his ear and Liam can feel his hands curling around his shoulder again. He wants to push Zayn away but even now he's overpowered by the need to curl into Zayn, for any shred of comfort from his bandmate that's more than what the public sees.

"M'fine," he mumbles again, turning back to Zayn but not looking him in the eye. "It's just…"

"What?"

"Niall," Liam says, as if that's supposed to convey everything in his head. Zayn stares back at him helplessly and Liam sighs heavily, almost wishing he hadn't said a thing. "He's just...kissing everyone."

"He's got the mistletoe, hasn't he?" Zayn replies with a light laugh. "That's what you do when you've got mistletoe."

"Yeah, but…" Liam sighs again and shrugs his shoulder in place of continuing his thought.

"What?" Zayn asks, still laughing a bit. "Does it bother you?"

"No," Liam replies petulantly, but it's all over. Zayn's seen right through him - just like always - and it's all going to come crashing down, Liam just knows it.

"Are you jealous?" Zayn's teasing now, clearly thinking it's all just some joke; that Liam's just having a bit of a strop and he's not actually upset about anything in particular.

"Shut up."

Liam turns away from Zayn, pushing his hand off again. Unfortunately in turning away from Zayn, Liam's met with the sight of Niall and Louis kissing. Liam's about one step away from actually stomping his foot in frustration, but he knows if he did that then Zayn would never let him live it down.

He hates his bandmates sometimes, he really does.

To add insult to injury (as per usual), Louis comes strolling over shortly after he detaches himself from Niall. He's got a smug grin on his face, one that rivals the look on Zayn's face that Liam is absolutely ignoring.

"Enjoying the party, lads?"

"Not as much as you," Zayn replies with a wink.

"Pity." Louis reaches out to pinch Liam, who's trying so hard not to say anything at all that he completely misses the telltale signs and ends up with a sore nipple.

"Piss off," Liam grumbles as he covers himself up against another attack. Louis cackles loudly, reaching up to pinch Liam's cheek instead - as if he's Liam's gran or something and _that_ thought puts a knot in Liam's stomach that he will not soon forget - and then dropping his arm just as quickly to land a smack to Liam's bum.

"Be sure to try the eggnog, yeah?" Louis says, wiggling his eyebrows as he starts walking off towards the kitchen. "Made it myself!"

As he watches Louis disappear into another room, Liam contemplates following him. He didn't particularly want to spend the rest of the night under assault from Louis' pinching, but he thought maybe it'd be easier to deal with that rather than with what Zayn and Niall are putting him through.

Liam, regretfully frozen in place, sneaks a glance at Niall out of the corner of his eye. Their eyes meet for a split second before Niall's attention is stolen by someone else, and Liam can't help but feel his stomach drop a bit more than it already had.

His chest fills with the sting of rejection, and Liam curses himself for letting it get this bad. He knows that he's full-on frowning now and there's nothing he can do to hold it back anymore. He's not quite facing Zayn but he's positive that Zayn's already seen the look on his face anyway; it's not like he's ever really been able to hide anything from Zayn anyway, not since day one.

Still, Liam doesn't quite realize what's going on around him until he hears his own name come out of Zayn's mouth.

"Niall! C'mere and give Liam a kiss!"

"Zayn!" he chides harshly. Zayn simply grins in response, slinging his arm around Niall's neck when he makes his way to the pair of them through the crowd.

"Liam's a bit lonely," he tells Niall, "think you ought to give him some mistletoe kisses."

Niall grins widely and shakes the mistletoe at Liam before he holds it above the two of them and presses his lips against Liam's cheeks in succession. Liam feels his cheeks burn where Niall's kissed them, but he can't actually bring himself to say or do anything in response.

Sure, it's what he wanted - _technically_ \- but he can't help the growing feeling of petulance. It's just not fair that Harry and Louis both got actual kisses and Liam gets treated like he's being kissed by his gran.

God, he really needs to stop thinking about his gran at times like this.

"No," Zayn whines with a small huff, "he's still--" Zayn groans, "you've got to do it proper."

"Yeah?" Niall asks as he looks at Liam for permission. His eyes are sparkling - not just from the reflection of the twinkly lights that are literally _everywhere_ \- and Liam feels his head nod even though he's pretty sure he can't actually move.

Niall holds the mistletoe above them again, tearing himself away from Zayn and curling his free hand in the fabric of Liam's jumper to pull him closer. Liam tries not to think about the fact that Niall's about to kiss him with Zayn _right there_ , or how much he's wanted this all night, but his thoughts don't shut down until Niall's lips press against his own.

It takes him back to the last time he and Niall had a snog - before everything had changed and Niall and Zayn decided they were better off on their own. Liam can't stop the whimper that escapes as he kisses Niall back, but he makes sure to keep his hands at his sides and not wrapped around any part of Niall that he can reach.

When the moment ends and Niall pulls away, Liam's eyes drop to where Zayn has curled his arms around Niall's waist and even though they're both smiling at him, anger suddenly courses through Liam's body and he can't stand it anymore.

"You can't just go around kissing people like that!" he spits harshly before storming away, leaving the pair of them with matching looks of absolute confusion.

Liam finds himself in the kitchen, still seething, and ends up deciding to drown his sorrows in eggnog. Given that it's the only non-alcoholic beverage in the kitchen besides water from the tap, Liam assumes it's a safe bet.

Of course, if Liam's mind hadn't been preoccupied with being angry at Zayn and Niall, he would've remembered Louis' endorsement of the eggnog. He should've known better than to trust anything Louis made, especially given Louis' preference for getting Liam drunk when he shouldn't be.

Having finished his third cup of eggnog in a row, Liam glances around the kitchen and is both surprised and relieved to see that neither Zayn nor Niall had followed him. Feeling much better, Liam refills his cup with eggnog and decides he can absolutely rejoin the party now and resolutely ignore their presence.

Of course, it's not until he actually takes a step away from the table where the eggnog is that he realizes he is one hundred percent not sober. He grumbles _Louis_ under his breath as he takes a moment to stare down at the cup in his hand with a frown.

"You've lied to me!" he mumbles before bringing the cup up to his mouth and drinking the eggnog anyway. He can't help it; this is the best eggnog he's ever had.

As Liam moves through the party he tries his best not to bump into every single person he passes, but his legs are quite wobbly from all the eggnog and in the end he finds himself slurring apologies more often than not.

He ends up almost knocking down one poor girl who appears to have had almost as much of the eggnog as he has, so as he's trying to pull her back up to her feet they're both giggling so much that he ends up on the floor with her. It's there that Zayn and Niall find him, still giggling to himself while lamenting the fact that his cup is empty.

"Have you had any eggnog?" he asks, his addled brain not quite connecting the fact that he's still supposed to be cross with the two of them. "I want more. Niall, will you get me more eggnog?"

"Think you've had enough eggnog," Niall replies as he hooks his arm under Liam's on one side and Zayn on the other.

"Didn't think you were drinking tonight," Zayn remarks softly as they gently haul Liam to his feet. Liam giggles again as his empty cup falls to the floor, but he starts frowning when Zayn and Niall don't let him reach down for it.

"Wasn't," Liam starts, blinking as he looks at Zayn confusedly, "then…" he trails off as he looks at Niall and frowns again. "Eggnog," he adds with a sense of finality, as clear as it could be given his muddled thought process.

"Louis' eggnog," Zayn mumbles under his breath, "should've known."

"C'mon then," Niall says as he and Zayn start leading him through the room towards the front of Harry's house, "let's get you home safe, yeah?"

Liam mumbles a feeble protest as they tug him along, his mind clearing up just enough to remember that he really doesn't want to be around them right now. The problem is, all the eggnog he's had has started to make him feel sleepy and he just doesn't have the energy to properly fight them off.

Not to mention that every time Zayn turns around to check on him, Liam gets a whiff of his cologne that smells _really good_. It's the kind of smell that's always comforted him; so familiar that it never fails to make Liam feel safe, warm, and happy. Not that he's ever going to admit it to Zayn, least of all after all he's been put through tonight.

There's a car waiting for them outside Harry's house, Zayn climbs in first so he can pull Liam after him and Niall makes sure Liam's seated properly before he slides in as well.

"You smell good," Liam mumbles with his face pressed into Zayn's neck, having scooted too far over in the backseat and practically sitting on Zayn's lap instead of in his own seat. So much for keeping his thoughts to himself.

"You smell like eggnog," Zayn replies with a laugh, "eggnog and Liam."

"S'not fair," Liam whines, his attention quickly drawn away from Zayn and to Niall as the door slams shut behind him. "Niall, tell Zayn it's not fair."

"What's not fair?" Niall asks with a grin as he moves closer to Liam, gently prying him away from Zayn only to get a lapful of Liam himself. Liam whimpers as he buries his face against Niall's neck this time around, breathing in his scent and only becoming more flustered.

"You too," he groans, "you two smell so bloody good, it's just not fair."

"Aww, Liam," Niall coos. Even though he can't actually see Niall's face, Liam can tell by the way he shifts against him that Niall's looking at Zayn over his head. Liam lets out another groan, falling back into a petulant mood quite easily and pulls away from Niall and leans his head back against the seat.

"Nothing's fair anymore," he mumbles under his breath before closing his eyes.

"What d'you mean?" Zayn asks as he pulls one of Liam's hands into his own. Liam opens his eyes to stare out the back window at the lights rushing by as they drive away from Harry's, but he can't bring himself to look at either of them.

"S'different now," he mumbles again, hardly sure if Zayn and Niall can understand him but he's too far gone to really care, "you've got each other and I've got no one."

"Liam--"

"Maybe I'll start carrying around mistletoe," he interrupts, giggling at his own idea. "Then I'll be the one getting kisses whenever I like."

"Is that what you want?" Niall asks softly, curling his arm around Liam's head as he tries to coax Liam into looking at him.

"Dunno." Liam sighs wistfully as he curls into Niall again and shrugs. "Maybe."

Liam groans as Niall shifts against him, jostling him enough that he pulls back to stare at Niall in wonder. Just as he's about to ask what Niall's doing, Niall pulls the sprig of mistletoe from his pocket and grins at Liam.

"Look what I've got," he sing-songs as he slowly raises his arm so it's above them again. Liam looks up at the mistletoe and then back at Niall with a small frown.

"You don't have to," he says, still frowning. "Just because--"

Niall cuts him off with a kiss, smiling as he pulls away and peppers Liam's face with kisses. Liam starts giggling again, but stops when Niall presses their lips together again and Liam can't help the soft moan that escapes his mouth.

"Missed that," Niall whispers when he pulls away again. Liam blinks at him as a small smile slowly finds its way across his face, nearly disappearing when he hears Zayn whine behind him.

"My turn," he grumbles, wrapping his hand around Niall's wrist and pulling it closer so now the mistletoe is hanging above him and Liam.

Liam turns around just in time for Zayn to cup his face and bring their lips together; the kiss bringing a hundred and one memories flooding back into Liam's mind, and suddenly it feels like nothing's changed at all.

"All you had to do was ask," Zayn says quietly, kissing Liam again and again until they're both smiling so widely that they're not really kissing at all anymore.

They continue swapping kisses in the backseat of the car until it pulls up in front of Liam's flat, and Liam looks at his building forlornly. He doesn't want to get out of the car, because he's sure that means the end of this.

"Better get him inside, yeah?" Zayn asks, looking at Niall as his arm wraps around Liam from behind.

"Yeah," Niall agrees with a grin, "someone's got to make sure he gets to his mum's in the morning."

Try as he might, Liam can't contain his smile for the rest of the night. Zayn and Niall don't mind at all, as they're smiling just as much. Well, in-between kisses under the mistletoe, that is.


	3. Your New Favorite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry becomes a little obsessed with the boy dressed as an elf, and Nick can't blame him at all.

Harry has always loved buying gifts for people. Birthdays, holidays, even just little knick-knacks that catch his eye and make him think of someone in particular; he can't help himself. The fact that he's so _good_ at knowing what that someone will like is absolutely infuriating to his family and closest friends - mainly because they feel like they can never compare.

Harry can remember more than a few Christmases where Gemma has tried (and failed) to out-do him when it came to presents for their mum. It's not like he actively tried to get her a better present than Gemma did, it just always sort of happens that way.

And to make matters worse, Harry loves getting presents for others so much that even when he's found "the perfect present", it still doesn't stop him from getting more.

Which is why he's found himself at the mall with two weeks left in the Christmas shopping season, looking at all the same stores he's been looking at since they started advertising for Christmas in mid-November.

He can't help it, really. He loves looking at the window displays and seeing the smiles on everyone's faces as they bustle about in their errands (well, most people are smiling, there are the unlucky few that appear to just _hate_ Christmas shopping). Harry feels a sense of camaraderie in the crowd and quite honestly just can't get enough of it.

After grabbing a bite to eat in the food court, Harry decides to wander around on the lower level. It's there that he discovers a Santa's Workshop display has been set up and a small line of children with their parents are apparently waiting to get their picture taken with Santa. Harry remembers standing in similar lines when he and Gemma were little, although Gemma was always wary of the man dressed in the Santa costume.

Even though he doesn't have a kid with him and can't really justify getting in line to get his own picture taken with Santa - he does have _some_ semblance of when enough is enough - he still wanders over to get a closer look at the display and, alright, maybe try and catch a glimpse of Santa himself.

He does end up seeing Santa, which brings a smile to his face, but he only sees him for a moment before his attention is stolen away by one of Santa's elves.

The boy in the elf costume is quite possibly one of the most gorgeous people Harry's ever seen - and Harry's absolutely certain that nobody will ever look as good in the ridiculous costume as he does.

Harry can't help but stare at the boy as he crouches down in front of the little girl at the front of the line who's hiding her face against the skirt her mother is wearing. Harry can't quite hear what he's saying to her, but he's got a gentle smile and whatever he does say is enough to get her to smile back and slowly come out from hiding. The mother looks relieved when the boy takes the little girl's hand and leads her over to Santa, helping her onto his lap to get her ready to have her picture taken.

It's entirely possible that Harry's heart grows several sizes when the boy hands the little girl a candy cane after the picture and gives her a hug before leading her back to her mother.

Of course, Harry only realizes that he has been _blatantly_ staring at this boy when he catches his eye by complete accident and can't bring himself to look away. The boy eyes Harry warily for a moment before giving him a smirk that's far too suggestive - there are kids _right there_ , for fuck's sake - and then promptly turning his attention to the next child in line.

As the cycle restarts, Harry finds that it's getting quite difficult for him to breathe normally. He reluctantly tears himself away from the scene before him and pulls out his phone, quickly dialling a number as he heads towards the mall exit.

"G'way, Harry. M'sleeping."

"It's two in the afternoon, Nick." Harry frowns. "Why on earth are you sleeping?"

"Because my bed is warm and comfy and it's bloody freezing outside so why would I be anywhere else?" Nick replies, failing to hold back a rather large yawn at the end of his sentence.

"You're ridiculous."

"I've been called worse."

"Does cotton-headed ninny muggins count?"

"Cotton--" Nick groans and starts to laugh and Harry can't help but smile widely at the sound. "Can't believe you just quoted Elf at me," Nick laughs again. "What're you doing, anyway?"

"I'm just leaving the mall, you'll never guess--"

"The mall? Again?" Nick sighs. "I thought you finished your Christmas shopping ages ago."

"Technically," Harry says with a soft laugh, "but y'know--"

"If you've found me another 'perfect present', I swear I'll cry. You're the worst person to compete with when it comes to this."

"I know," Harry replies brightly, "you and Gemma have told me numerous times. But Nick, you have to--"

"Because it's true," Nick interrupts. "Now why'd you call me? It better be to say you're coming by because now that I'm awake my bed is quite lonely."

"Nick," Harry chides as his cheeks heat up. "M'in public, y'know."

"I know," Nick replies smugly, "and I know you like when I get you riled up in public, you kinky bastard."

" _Nick_ ," Harry whines, starting to walk faster as he dodges people with large bags left and right. "Stop it."

"M'not doing anything," Nick replies in the same smug tone. "But if I were, it might be making it _hard_ for me to stop."

Harry takes a deep breath as he tries not to react to what Nick's implying, but when he hears Nick inhale sharply on the other end of the line there's no going back.

"Go on, then." Harry's voice drops as he ducks down an alley to take a shortcut to the nearest tube entrance. It's getting tougher to walk as fast when his jeans are getting tighter with every passing second.

"Cheeky," Nick teases, cutting himself off with a soft moan as he wraps his hand around himself and starts tugging slowly. "I might be thinking about the last time you were in my bed."

"Yeah?" Harry bites back a groan as he waits for Nick to continue.

"Yeah," Nick answers, already breathless as he starts stroking himself faster. "Thinking about you pinned underneath me. Begging to be touched, kissed, fucked."

"Nick," Harry groans as he shoves his hand into his pocket to try and adjust himself, gasping at how good it feels just to _touch_.

"Naughty boy, you are." Nick chuckles. "Can't keep your hands off yourself in public, can you?"

"I can," Harry says with a whimper as he reluctantly pulls his hand away.

"But you don't want to. Bet you wish you could touch yourself, get off just to the sound of my voice, yeah?"

"Yeah," Harry replies, his voice strained as he fights to keep going. Once he gets onto the tube he knows he'll have to hang up the phone, and while part of him doesn't want Nick's voice in his ear to stop, the other part knows that the sooner he gets on the tube the sooner he'll get to Nick's flat.

"I love it when you get all needy," Nick continues, and Harry has to shut his eyes and breathe deeply to keep himself calm as he hears the rustling of Nick's blankets. "You look so good when you're all spread out for me, desperate for it."

Harry bites down on his lip harshly when Nick gasps and moans, and he can just imagine how fast Nick is tugging on himself now; how desperate he is to make himself come while Harry listens helplessly.

"M'close, Harry," Nick groans.

"C'mon, Nick." Harry tries to muffle a groan of his own as he waits in the middle of a crowd to cross the street. "Come for me."

Nick's breath catches and he moans loudly in Harry's ear as he spills over his fist, working himself through his orgasm while Harry bites down on his lip so hard he nearly draws blood.

"Naughty, naughty," Nick teases once he's caught his breath.

"You are," Harry replies with a whine. "M'getting on the tube now, I'll be there soon."

"Lovely," Nick chuckles. "Is that what you called me for?"

"What d'you mean?"

"I dunno, I seem to remember you saying something but then I got distracted."

Harry laughs as he remembers why he called Nick in the first place, but there's no way he could possibly explain everything before having to hang up.

"I'll tell you when I get there, alright? Promise it's worth it."

"I'm sure it is," Nick answers cheekily. "See you soon, love."

*

Harry doesn't end up telling Nick about the boy in the elf costume until several hours later. It isn't entirely his fault, he's always been particularly drawn to Nick when he looks soft and sleepy and Harry just can't help the urge to fall into bed next to him.

"Nick," Harry starts as he plates the two cheese toasties he's just finished making for the two of them, "remember when I called you earlier?"

"I do recall, yeah." Nick winks at him and Harry flushes, remembering how quickly their conversation had turned and the events after.

"Well, the real reason I called was to tell you about this boy I saw at the mall."

"A boy?" Nick hums in interest as he takes the offered plate from Harry's hand. "So you were serious about the whole…?"

"Yeah," Harry replies through a mouthful, suddenly frowning. "Were you not? Did I--"

"Calm down, Harold." Nick laughs as he reaches across the table to brush some crumbs away from Harry's mouth. "You're so cute when you're flustered."

"I just," Harry whimpers, "he was _perfect_ for us, Nick. You have to see."

"What shop was he in? Dunno how perfect he could be if you saw him at the mall."

"He wasn't in a shop," Harry answers as he tries to hide his smile. "He was in Santa's workshop."

"He was...what?" Nick blinks and Harry shrugs his shoulders as his smile breaks through.

"He's an elf." Nick's jaw drops and Harry quickly keeps talking to dissuade Nick's look of utter disbelief. "He's so fit though, Nick, honestly. Nobody should look that good in an elf's costume, but he _does_."

"S'pose I'll have to see this for myself," Nick replies with an unconvinced laugh. "Can't believe you fell for a bloody elf."

"You'll see." Harry grins. "Just you wait."

*

The following day, Harry all but drags Nick back to that same shopping mall - all the while Nick is whining "but I _hate_ going there!" to which Harry replies "you won't hate it once you see him."

Nick only half-believes Harry when he tells him how much he'll like this boy in the elf costume, and he certainly isn't going to give up on an opportunity to pitch a fit. Still, he's mostly joking about the whole thing because he loves seeing Harry get a little pushy now and again.

"C'mon, Nick, we're almost there, _c'mon_!" Harry yanks on Nick's arm, his fingers wrapped around Nick's wrist so tightly that they're sure to leave bruises. Normally, Nick wouldn't mind that but when there's no orgasms involved with bruising, it's just not as much fun.

"Good lord, Harry, calm down!" Nick tugs his wrist back and ends up wrapping his arms around Harry's midsection to slow him down, chuckling when Harry starts to wriggle.

"Stop it," he whines, "you're being so rude."

"I am not," Nick replies in astonishment. "I'm just making sure you don't terrify the poor boy when you see him again. Worse than a kid in a candy store, you are."

Harry frowns as he slumps against Nick, turning to bury his head in the crook of Nick's neck and moan pathetically.

"You'll understand when you see him," Harry insists, "he's gorgeous."

"M'feeling a bit unloved, myself."

It's only half-true really; Nick is feeling a little jealous of how infatuated Harry is with someone he saw for all of twenty seconds the day before. Harry looks up at him with an even deeper frown and Nick's heart swells when Harry wraps his arms around him.

"You'll like him, I know you will." Harry tilts his head up to kiss Nick on the lips, smiling when he pulls away. "Promise."

"Well, if you promise…" Nick smiles as he gives Harry another kiss before turning him around and smacking his bum. "Go on, then. Lead the way."

Harry beams as he takes Nick's hand again, pulling gently this time as he weaves his way through the crowd with Nick following close behind. Nick can already see the workshop display, but they seem to have approached it from behind so anyone working there is blocked from their view.

Refusing to let the crowd get the better of him, Harry continues around the display until he and Nick are standing near where the kids and parents exit after getting their picture taken. Nick is giggling to himself at the number of entirely unimpressed parents standing in line when Harry points to one of the elves and whispers, "that's him!"

Even with just one look, Nick has to admit that Harry was absolutely right. _No one_ has ever looked as good dressed in a ridiculous bright green and red elf costume as this boy does.

"See?" Harry whispers as he elbows Nick in the ribs. "Told you."

"Yes, you were right, I'll never hear the end of it, I'm sure." Nick rolls his eyes but smiles back at Harry. "So what's his name?"

"I dunno," Harry replies.

"What d'you mean, you dunno?" Nick laughs. "You didn't talk to him?"

"No, we just...smiled at each other?" Harry's bashful now and Nick is _so_ going to remember this to use against him later. But for the moment, he just can't stop laughing. "Stop that!"

But Nick can't, he's full on wheezing from laughing so much and people are actually starting to stare at the two of them. Harry has turned bright red from embarrassment while Nick's face is red from laughing so much and he's about two minutes away from falling to the floor.

It's enough to draw the attention of the boy in the elf costume, who looks at the pair of them with both eyebrows raised. He smirks at Harry again, this time with a wink that sends a shiver down Harry's spine. If Harry's one step away from swooning, well, he can hardly be held responsible.

"Y'know what we should do?" Harry says as he turns to look at Nick, whose giggles have mostly subsided.

"What?"

"Get your nephew and bring him here."

" _What_?" Nick repeats. "My nephew?" Harry nods. "Bring him here?"

"Yes, Nick," Harry says with a sigh. "Don't be thick."

Nick squawks and pinches Harry, who quickly bats his hands away.

"Don't call me thick, you rude thing. Not when you're asking me for favors."

"It would be our in, Nick, _please_?" Harry sticks out his bottom lip and looks so utterly hopeful that Nick can't help but cave.

"Alright, alright, put that thing away." He huffs as Harry grins happily. "You're the absolute worst."

*

It took a bit of convincing to get Nick's sister to agree to let him and Harry steal her son for a few hours the following day - it wasn't that Nick didn't regularly spend time with his nephew, she was just a bit wary of the fact that Nick wanted to take him to get his picture taken with Santa at a _mall_.

"Just humor me, yeah?" Nick sighs for the hundredth time when his sister pops by to drop off his nephew. "We'll have him back in no time."

"I still don't understand," she says with a shake of her head as her son runs into Harry's arms for a hug. Nick frowns, unsure of whether he's more annoyed by his sister's lack of trust or the fact that his nephew clearly likes Harry more.

"Neither do I," Nick replies as he hugs his sister before shooing her out the door. When he turns around to ask Harry if they're ready to go, he sees that Harry's already got his nephew on his back, and Nick can't help but start laughing.

"What?" Harry asks.

"Yeah, what?" his nephew parrots, grinning madly over Harry's shoulder.

"Nothing," Nick replies through a grin. "Who wants to meet Santa?"

It's entirely possible that Harry is more excited about going back to Santa's workshop than Nick's nephew is about going there for the first time. Sure, he's excited about the prospect of meeting Santa and getting a free candy cane, but in all honesty Nick knows that this is more for Harry's benefit than his nephew's.

And, well, maybe a little for his too. But he's not going to tell Harry that.

"And be sure you thank Santa for listening to your Christmas list," Harry says as he leads the way through the mall crowd again. Nick is trying with all his might not to burst out laughing as his nephew dutifully nods and says "yes, Harry" after practically every single thing Harry says. It's entirely too adorable and Nick is having the worst time resisting the urge to laugh.

"And also make sure you thank Santa's elves, because they're just as important."

"Why?"

"Where would Santa be without his elves?" Harry explains with wide eyes, seemingly appalled by the question. "There's no way he could do all the prep for Christmas all by himself!"

Nick snorts at that, unable to hold back the sound any longer and Harry immediately looks at him with a mock glare. Nick mimes zipping his mouth shut, using it as an excuse to clamp his hand firmly over his mouth to prevent himself from laughing out loud any more.

By the time they make it into the line, Harry is practically bouncing back and forth on his heels as he tries to catch a glimpse of their favorite elf. Nick crouches down to get to his nephew's level and nudges him to get his attention.

"What do you want for Christmas?"

"Can't tell _you_ ," he says with a huff, "have to wait and tell Santa!"

"Of course, just keeping you on your toes."

"You're weird."

Nick laughs as he stands back up, thinking to himself _kid, you've got no idea_.

There are only two groups ahead of them in line when Nick catches the boy's eye - completely on accident - and the boy gives him a curious look. Nick tries to be casual about it, but in all honesty he's starting to get nervous.

He didn't think it was possible, but he's actually _flustered_ at the thought of speaking to him. He'd hoped that Harry would pick up the slack and talk to the boy for the both of them, but as Nick steals a glance at Harry out of the corner of his eye, it's fairly clear that they're both in the same boat.

_Great_ , Nick thinks, _we're bloody screwed_.

It's not as though he does this on a regular basis - this being proposition someone for a threesome. Christ, just thinking about it makes Nick's skin crawl (in a good way, which is weird enough as it is) and he feels so short of breath that it's possible he may pass out at any moment.

He'd really rather not, because if there were a list of embarrassing moments Nick would eventually get over, he's fairly certain fainting in the line at Santa's workshop would never be one of them.

When it's finally their turn, the boy already has a smirk on his face when they approach.

"I know you," he says as he looked from Harry to Nick, and then down to his nephew. "But you're new!"

The smirk is gone in an instant and replaced with a fond smile as he starts talking to Nick's nephew in a gentle tone that has both Nick and Harry weak in the knees. It's bloody embarrassing, being this far gone for someone dressed in pointy red shoes with bells on them.

"M'Harry," Harry blurts out once the boy comes back over after having escorted Nick's nephew over to Santa. Nick is trying to look as though he's more interested in his nephew meeting Santa than he is with the elf, but it's failing.

"Hello, Harry," he replies, his eyes sparkling. "Would you like a candy cane too?"

"Love one," Harry answers, beaming so widely Nick is certain he'll never stop.

The boy smiles as he turns his back on the pair for a moment, coming back with two candy canes in his hand. He hands one to Harry before turning to Nick and raising his eyebrow.

"You too?"

"Please," Nick manages to croak, reaching out for the candy cane.

"So polite," the boy says with a smirk, leaning closer to Nick so the other parents don't hear him say, "I'd've thought for sure you'd be on the Naughty List."

"Don't be so sure," Nick replies, surprised by his own quick response. The boy chuckles, eying Nick appreciatively before giving Harry the same once-over.

"Off you go," he says as he nods his head towards Santa, where Nick's nephew is waiting with a candy cane of his own already in hand.

"Right," Nick grunts as he latches onto Harry's arm and pulls him along. Harry lets out a rather embarrassing whine, staring at the boy as Nick tugs him towards the exit.

"Didja have fun?" Harry asks his nephew, tearing his eyes away from the boy reluctantly. Nick's nephew excitedly launches into a detailed re-telling of everything that happened while he was talking to Santa as Nick goes to pay for the portrait.

He grumbles under his breath - having not noticed that the portrait costs over twenty quid - but he can't very well let his nephew go home empty-handed. The girl dressed in a similar elf costume behind the counter takes Nick's money with a large smile, wishing him a happy Christmas as he turns to leave.

Harry and his nephew are still engrossed in conversation about Santa, so Nick takes the chance to steal another look at the boy elf. At that moment, he looks over at Nick and grins.

Nick feels hot all over, his heart racing as the boy picks up a candy cane and waves it in Nick's direction, gesturing in a way that Nick can't quite decipher. He stares helplessly as the boy averts his eyes from Nick, having to go back to work and leave Nick wondering.

"C'mon, Haz. Let's get this one home, yeah?"

*

Harry decides he's depressed later that night, long after he and Nick have dropped his nephew off and they're curled up on the couch flicking through the channels.

"He was so lovely up close," Harry says with a soft whine. "How can anyone be that lovely?"

"You're that lovely," Nick replies dutifully and Harry elbows him with an indignant huff.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Harry groans. "He talked to you, he obviously liked you."

"I did say things!" Nick protested. "I didn't see you helping out, y'know."

"I was distracted," Harry mumbles sadly. "Too many gorgeous blokes around."

"You'd better be including me in that statement and not Santa."

Harry rolls his eyes and brushes his lips against Nick's cheek. "Of course."

Nick smiles and turns to meet Harry's lips with his own. Harry hums happily into the kiss, his mood lifting out of the funk he'd put himself in.

"Tell you what, d'you want the candy cane he gave me?" Nick offers, gesturing to his coat on the chair behind them. "You like sweets more than I do."

"You trying to bribe me, Grimshaw?" Harry smirks. "Because it's working."

"Just go get it," Nick says as he pushes Harry away, smacking his bum once he gets to his feet. Harry hums a random tune that sounds suspiciously like 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas' as he grabs Nick's coat, poaching the candy cane from the pocket and quickly rejoining Nick on the couch.

"Hang on," he says as he stares at the wrapper, "yours has writing on it."

"What, yours didn't come with a label?" Nick chuckles. "Didn't your mum teach you not to take unwrapped candy from strangers?"

"That's not what I mean, you twat." Harry shoves the candy cane in Nick's face. "Look!"

Nick sighs loudly as he takes the candy cane from Harry's hand and blinks at the scribbles on the wrapper. There, slightly wrinkled but perfectly legible is a name and a phone number.

"Louis." Nick snickers. "Louis the elf."

"Why didn't he give me his number?" Harry pouts and Nick gently runs his fingers through his hair.

"Did you even look at yours or were you too excited about the candy inside?"

Harry frowns for a moment before shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans, struggling for a minute before he pulls out his own crumpled candy cane wrapper. Once he smoothes it out, his frown turns into a huge grin because Louis had indeed written his number on Harry's as well.

"Call him!" Harry says excitedly. "Now!"

"Why do I have to do it?" Nick whines.

"Just do it, Nick, c'mon." Harry starts pouting again and Nick can't do anyone but roll his eyes and sigh.

"Alright, keep your trousers on."

Harry raises an eyebrow and Nick grins.

"Or not, y'know I don't mind."

"Make the call and I'll go around starkers."

"You'll do that anyway," Nick replies but he reaches for his phone regardless and taps in the number, waiting with an overly excited Harry crawling into his lap.

"Was starting to think you were too thick to get my message," Louis' voice drawls on the other end, making Nick smirk already.

"Cheeky," Nick replies with a laugh, "you always answer the phone like that?"

"Sometimes." Louis chuckles. "Didn't think you'd call, actually."

"Why wouldn't I?" Nick grunts softly as Harry pushes himself closer to him, eager to hear what Louis is saying. "Don't think Harry would've let me sleep tonight if I didn't."

"Harry?" Louis repeats, then chuckles knowingly. "Oh right, the one who came to see me three days in a row."

"Maybe," Nick answers, snickering as Harry's cheeks turn red. "He couldn't stay away. Can you blame him? You're bloody fit."

Louis hums. "S'pose not. He's quite fit, himself." Louis chuckles. "You're not so bad, either."

"What's he saying?" Harry whispers, burying his face against Nick's neck and making him yelp.

"What's that?" Louis asks with a laugh.

"Harry being an impatient arse." Nick laughs as he tries to nudge Harry. "Do you want to speak to him, you sod?"

"No," Harry whines with a smile, "maybe. Does he want to talk to me?"

"Louis, would you like to speak to Harry?"

"S'pose I do. Wait, what's your name?" He laughs again and Nick groans. He's already in far too deep.

"Nick. Here's Harry, Lou. Be kind, he's a simple soul."

"Hey," Harry protests, but takes the phone when Nick offers it. "Hiya, Louis."

Nick watches as Harry's smile grows larger as he talks to Louis. He had been worried when Harry brought up the idea of bringing another person into the relationship; thinking that maybe he wasn't enough for Harry and the mere idea made him so scared. But now, seeing the way Harry lit up coupled with the looks he keeps giving Nick, he feels one hundred percent comfortable.

Not to mention, he was unbelievably attracted to Louis as well. The memory of Louis' arse in the elf costume was enough to get Nick all hot and bothered.

Nick only realizes that Harry's giving Louis his address when he's halfway through reciting it, and he pokes Harry in the side to get his attention. It doesn't work the way he wants it to, Harry just smiles at him and keeps talking to Louis.

"Yeah, see you soon. Bye." Harry beams at Nick as he hangs up the phone. "Hi."

"Hi." Nick clears his throat. "What did you do?"

"Invited him over, of course." Harry flops back down on top of him and hums happily. "He'll be over in a bit."

"You--" Nick sputters, "but--"

"What?" Harry asks as he tilts his head up and nuzzles his nose against Nick's jaw. "Thought you'd be pleased. I took initiative!"

"You did," Nick replies fondly, shivering at the tickling sensation Harry's nose is giving him. "Very proud of you, Haz."

"Good." Harry settles back down and giggles. "Besides, he said he'd bring the elf costume."


	4. A Sideways Figure Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry really wants to know what Liam's got planned for her surprise.

Liam had been planning this date for the better part of two weeks. It was nearly impossible to keep Harry out of the loop, given that she had a remarkable way of getting Liam to spill his guts to her. One flash of her dimpled smile with the light catching her sparkling green eyes and Liam felt his insides turn to jelly.

He'd fallen for her the moment they met; when she came tearing around the corner in the local bookstore, immediately taking him to the ground with her landing on top of them.

"Whoops," she said with a giggle as she stared down at Liam.

If it had been anyone else, Liam would've replied with "what the bloody hell were you doing?!"

But the minute his eyes met hers, his mind went blank.

"Sorry about that," she said, pushing herself off of Liam and getting to her feet with a bit of stumbling. He continued staring up at her, still at a loss for words.

But that was months ago, and Liam has more or less been able to keep his head around Harry. That is, until he has something she wants and right now, she _really_ wants to know what he's been planning for her.

"M'not telling you," he tried to tell her sternly, but he couldn't keep a smile off his face and that did nothing to dissuade Harry.

"But you want to," she whined, tugging at his sleeve.

"You'll find out tomorrow," he promised, stroking the swell of her cheek with his thumb before leaning forward to kiss her lips. Harry whined against his mouth, curling her fingers into the hem of his shirt and tugging roughly.

"But I want to know _now_." Harry pulled away from Liam's lips and latched her mouth onto the skin of his neck, sucking hard for a few seconds and smiling when she heard Liam's breath catch. She caught his eye and smirked, but Liam wasn't going to let her win that easily.

"Well you'll have to wait, won't you?" Liam smiled as Harry's smirk turned into a pout.

"That's not fair."

"It's just one more day," Liam reasoned, "let me have this, yeah?"

Harry huffed loudly as she tucked her fingers into the waistband of Liam's jeans, making him shiver and inhale sharply - her fingers were chilly against the warm skin under his clothes. The smirk reappeared on her face as she caught Liam's eye again and raised her eyebrow.

"What can I have til then?" she asked, still smirking as Liam dropped his gaze between them where one of her hands were slowly sliding further under his jeans.

"Harry," he warned softly. Liam bit his lip to hold back a moan as she pressed her hand against him and wrapped her fingers around where he was already half-hard.

Harry leaned forward and giggled in his ear as she stepped closer to him, keeping her hand firmly around him in his jeans. Liam groaned and wrapped his arms around her in an attempt to hide what it was she was doing.

The fact was they were in in public, just a few blocks away from Harry's flat. He'd only stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to get Harry to stop trying to guess his plan for the following night. It was only midday, meaning there were people passing them by left and right but none of this seemed to dissuade Harry from what she wanted to do. Liam was just glad that no one had apparently noticed what was going on between the two of them - or if they had, they'd just kept on walking.

"Tell me," she whispered in sing-song close to his ear. Liam exhaled sharply as she twisted her wrist just enough to send a shiver down his spine.

"Stop it, Harry," he said with a sigh as he wrapped his hand around Harry's elbow and forcefully pulled her hand out of his jeans. Harry whined softly and tried to sneak her other hand into its place before Liam quickly grabbed her other wrist.

"Mean." Harry stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and Liam chuckled before leaning forward to press his lips against hers.

"It'll be worth it, I promise."

Harry made a soft noise of protest but Liam kissed her again before she could say anything. When he pulled away, he wrapped his arm around Harry's shoulder and started tugging her down the street towards her flat.

*

The following night, Liam knew that the hardest part of the night was going to be getting Harry to not pull the blindfold off before they arrived. As soon as he showed it to her, she grinned wickedly and gave him a look that made him flush a deep red.

"Not like _that_ , Harry," he mumbled as he motioned for her to turn around.

"Didn't know you were so kinky, Li," she teased as he placed the blindfold over her eyes.

"Don't start," he whispered into her ear, barely holding back a moan. Harry giggled as she wrapped her arms around Liam behind her, pulling him close.

"But I wanna," Harry said as she tilted her head back onto Liam's shoulder and brushed her lips against his cheek. "Never got to finish what I started yesterday."

"Thought you wanted to know my surprise," Liam replied with a soft laugh.

Harry hummed softly. "Can't I have both?"

Liam pulled himself out of her arms and shook his head before taking her arm firmly in his own and slowly leading her towards the door. She gripped his arm tightly, unsure and a bit wobbly on her feet with the blindfold on.

"C'mon, love. The car's waiting."

Harry kept close to Liam's side as the car drove them to their destination, and she kept peppering him with questions about where they were going and what they were going to do. Every once in a while she would lift her hand to her face as though she were going to remove the blindfold, but Liam caught her every time.

"Spoilsport."

"Look who's talking," Liam replied with a laugh. "We're almost there."

Harry grinned. "Is it a pony? Did you get me a pony?"

"No," Liam laughed more, "it's not a bloody pony."

"Good, I don't really like ponies, to be honest." Liam kept laughing and Harry frowned. "What! I'd've felt awful if you got me a pony and I had to pretend I loved it."

"Guess I'd better cancel your birthday present, then."

"Liam!"

"Alright, alright. No ponies." Liam smiled and kissed Harry's cheek. "Promise."

"You're such an arse sometimes."

Liam started to protest but the car slowed to a stop and he immediately forgot whatever he was going to say.

"We're here."

Harry could hardly go two steps without asking if she could take the blindfold off. She was so eager that Liam had to clasp both of her hands together with his own just to make sure she didn't spoil the surprise before he wanted her to.

"It's cold," Harry said as she shivered, trying to get closer to Liam without tripping over her own feet. "Where are we?"

"You'll see in a minute, just a couple more steps."

"If you let me trip, I swear…" Harry's threat fell short when she couldn't even finish her sentence without smiling. Liam came to a stop and didn't let her stumble, keeping a tight grip on her hands to guide her.

"Alright, I'm going to let go of your hands." Liam let out a deep breath. "Wait for me to tell you to take off the blindfold, yeah?"

"Yeah," Harry answered.

"M'serious, Harry."

Harry huffed. " _Alright_ , Liam. C'mon!"

Liam smiled at her even though she couldn't see it, and then quickly stepped behind her so he wasn't blocking her view when she took off the blindfold.

"Go ahead," he whispered. Harry jumped a little, surprised to hear Liam's voice so close to her, but she quickly tore the blindfold off and blinked at the sight in front of her.

"It's...the ice rink." Harry turned to give Liam a puzzled look. "I thought it wasn't open for another week."

"It's not, technically." Liam bounced up on the balls of his feet and smiled widely. "I might've persuaded the owner to open it especially for us tonight."

"How?" Harry asked with a bright smile. Liam shrugged.

"I've got a way with people."

Harry rolled her eyes. "You bribed him, didn't you?"

"Doesn't matter," Liam assured her. "Now c'mon, let's get you some skates."

Liam wasn't exactly good at ice skating - he'd only been once or twice in his life before and every time he'd spent most of the time either clutching the side or on his bum - but he knew how much Harry loved it, and it was worth making a fool of himself to see her so happy.

He let her go out onto the ice first, ignoring how red his cheeks got when she shouted "you just want to stare at my arse as I go!"

"Do not!" he called back, unable to keep his eyes from going directly there. Harry glanced at him over her shoulder and smirked.

"Liar!"

Liam shook his head and laughed as he took a hesitant first step onto the ice, already feeling shaky on his skates and wondering how long it was going to take for him to take a spill. Harry completed her first lap of the rink in the time it took Liam to get both feet onto the ice, still clutching the edge of the doorway.

"C'mon Liam," she said as she held out her hand to him. "It's fun!"

"You go," he insisted. "I'll get there, promise."

Harry giggled as she took off in another lap, gliding across the ice and making it look so easy that Liam couldn't help but stare. It was amazing that she could be this graceful on ice and trip over her own two feet on the way from the sofa to the kitchen.

By the time Harry came around again, Liam had made it about a quarter of the way around the rink and was still clutching the wall.

"Li-am," she sang as she skated up next to him. "Gimme your arm."

"I can do it," he said as he patted the wall. "S'long as I've got this trusty wall, I'm good."

"M'sure you are," Harry replied with a smile. "But I want to skate with you so gimme your arm, yeah?"

Liam sighed dramatically but let her loop their arms together and carefully let go of the wall. Harry smiled as she slowly began to skate forward, pulling Liam along and trying not to giggle at the way he held his free hand out in front of himself as though he were preparing to fall face-forward at any moment.

"You don't skate well, do you?" she asked.

"How could you tell?" Liam answered with a laugh.

"Just have a feeling." Harry came to a slow stop when they reached the door again and turned to face Liam, wrapping his arms around her waist to keep him steady. "You didn't have to do this."

"I wanted to." Liam kissed her nose. "Seeing you smile like that is worth a few falls on the ice."

"You're not going to fall," Harry assured him. "Not while I'm here to catch you."

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that sort of thing?"

"Maybe, if you could skate."

"True," Liam admitted as he shrugged his shoulders, tightening his grip on Harry's waist when one of his feet slipped a few inches forward. "I'm rubbish."

"You're perfect," Harry corrected before giving Liam a quick kiss. "This is perfect."

"Glad you think so," Liam replied, kissing her again. "Fancy another go around?"

"Absolutely." Harry beamed. "This time we're going faster."

Liam laughed loudly, "you do realize if I fall, you're going down with me?"

Harry wrapped her arms around Liam's neck and pressed their foreheads together.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."


	5. Candy Cane Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall wakes up to a scavenger hunt on Christmas morning.

If there was one thing that Niall was not expecting on Christmas morning, it was to wake up alone. He rolled over and stretched out his arms with his eyes still closed, thinking that he'd come in contact with another warm body that he'd be able to pull close and cuddle with. Instead he was met with an empty space and chilly sheets.

Niall blinked a few times upon opening his eyes and frowned at Harry's side of the bed until he noticed something sitting on Harry's pillow. He reached out for it, finding a candy cane flavored Hershey's Kiss and a slip of paper.

"Haz?" he called, his voice a little rough from sleep but still loud enough that he expected Harry to be able to hear him if he was still in the house.

When he didn't hear a response, Niall sighed and laid back down. He unwrapped the Kiss and popped it into his mouth before unfolding the paper to read what was written.

_Good morning to you, Niall_

_Hope this note makes you smile :)_

_If you're looking for something more_

_You should check outside the door ;)_

"Harry," he mumbled with a soft laugh as he hopped up and out of bed, shivering slightly when his bare feet were met with the cold hardwood floors. He grabbed a hoodie and a pair of trackies off the floor before pulling on a pair of slippers and opening the bedroom door.

Sitting in the middle of the doorway was another candy cane Kiss sitting on top of another note. Niall grinned as he bent down to pick it up, quickly tearing the wrapper off and eating it so he could read the note.

_You've made it this far!_

_I'm glad you're up-a_

_Now you should come downstairs_

_And get a cuppa :)_

"You're the worst," Niall mumbled to himself, shaking his head as he laughed again. He started heading down the stairs, eager to see what was waiting for him in the kitchen.

He expected to find Harry waiting for him with a cup of tea in hand, but Harry was still nowhere to be seen. Sitting on the kitchen counter was a steaming mug with another candy cane Kiss and a note waiting for him.

Niall looked around and called Harry's name again, positive that he had to be close by if the mug was still this warm. He slowly unwrapped the candy, keeping an eye on the door just in case Harry decided to surprise him in the middle of taking a sip of tea.

It wouldn't be the first time nor would it be the last, Niall was sure of it. Living with Harry proved to be more hazardous to Niall's health simply based on tea-related incidents than he ever thought possible.

Niall perched himself on a stool and took a long drink from the cup before opening the note, smiling as he read the message inside.

_You're almost there_

_Are you excited?_

_Come to the room_

_Where our tree's been lighted :)_

"Excited, lighted?" Niall pressed the palm of his hand against his forehead as he laughed, careful not to spill his tea all over himself. "Absolutely ridiculous."

He shuffled out of the kitchen and into the living room, unable to keep a grin off his face when he finally saw Harry standing in front of their Christmas tree with his hands shoved into his pockets and a sheepish grin on his face.

"Happy Christmas," he said as Niall approached him, carefully setting down his tea so he could wrap his arms around Harry and hug him tightly.

"You didn't have to do all this," Niall mumbled into his shoulder as Harry kissed the side of his head.

"I wanted to," Harry replied. "S'our first Christmas."

"Can't wait to see what you'll do next year," Niall said as he cupped Harry's face in his hands and pressed their lips together, both of them smiling ridiculously big.

"You taste like candy canes," Harry mumbled against Niall's lips, making them both laugh.

"Think you might've had something to do with that," Niall replied. "Speaking of, d'you have any more of those?"

Harry hummed as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, revealing a handful of candy cane Kisses. "Might've kept a few."


	6. Tidings of Comfort and Joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis is given the chance to see what his life is going to become if he doesn't start treating Liam better (A Christmas Carol AU).

Contrary to popular belief around the office, Louis really did enjoy his job. Maybe he took a bit too much pleasure in ordering people around, but he really couldn't help it. Having grown up with six younger siblings Louis had spent most of his life taking care of others and always having to be available at the drop of a hat.

So, in his mind, he was owed a little bit of power. He'd worked hard to get where he was and he wasn't about to lose it all just to be nice and well-liked by his fellow employees. He didn't need to be liked, he wanted to be respected.

The only wrench in the otherwise smoothly-run machine that was his office went by the name of Liam Payne.

Louis had never accounted for someone like Liam coming into his life. He didn't even know people like Liam existed until he came in for an interview, nearly two years ago now.

Louis remembered that day vividly: Liam was baby-faced and naive, but so eager to learn and do anything he could for the job that Louis couldn't even fathom giving the position to any of the other candidates. He fell hard and fast for Liam that very day, and it had been ruining his life ever since.

It just wasn't fair. Liam grew more and more attractive with each passing day and he always looked at Louis as though he were the most important person in the room. Whether or not Louis believed it of himself anyway wasn't the point, he simply didn't know how to behave around Liam.

It all came crashing down no more than two months after Liam started working for Louis, when he let slip that he was seeing someone.

Louis wasn't an idiot; he knew full well that he and Liam shouldn't be involved outside of work regardless, but it didn't stop his heart from breaking upon hearing that not only was Liam actually gay, but he already had a boyfriend.

Needless to say, Louis didn't take the news all that well.

He never admitted to anyone how he felt about Liam, and so he thought the best way to deal with the rejection (if he could even really call it that) was to shut down. He became colder; he interacted with his employees less and less until it was a well-known fact around the office that if you valued your job, you did not disturb Louis in his office for any reason.

The only person who didn't seem to understand that was, of course, Liam. No matter how many times Louis shouted at him, Liam kept coming back.

Liam's unflappable kindness in the face of Louis' absolutely ridiculous mean streak did nothing to dissuade Louis from reacting in the way that he did. In fact, Louis began trying to push Liam's buttons; trying to see just how far he could go until Liam would actually react.

Louis knew he was being a complete arse most of the time, professional or not. He picked fights with Liam over the smallest things, just because he could. But Liam's earnest, cheerful demeanor never wavered. He never stopped being helpful; doing anything he could to make sure that Louis' work got done as quickly and smoothly as possible, and it drove Louis crazy.

To top it off, for the last six months Liam had been asking Louis if he wanted to grab a drink after work every week. Just like clockwork.

He would insist that Louis didn't have to say yes if he didn't want to, that it was just going to be a few people from the office and his boyfriend _Zayn_ , and Louis was absolutely welcome to come.

Every week, Louis made up some excuse as to why he couldn't go. If he was being honest, he just didn't want to see how happy Liam was outside of work. He didn't want to have it thrown in his face that he didn't have what Liam and Zayn had, and that he probably never would. Instead, he went home every Friday night to an empty flat and drank his troubles away.

It got worse as the holiday season drew closer. Not only was Louis dodging Liam's requests for him to come out, he was now avoiding his mum's calls about his holiday plans.

He hadn't been home in years. At first it was because he didn't have the money, then after he started working in the office he would always end up being the one who worked over the holidays. Now, even though he didn't have to work through Christmas, he would still lie and say he couldn't get away.

The worst part was that Louis didn't even know why he was avoiding his family. He tried not to think about it, lest he admit to himself how badly his life had gone off track.

So instead he shut everyone out of his life as much as he could, and lashed out at anyone who tried to get under his skin. It was working out just fine until the Friday before Christmas.

"Oh for fuck's s--" Louis groaned loudly as he read an urgent email he'd received a minute before. "Liam! Get in here!"

"Yeah, Louis?" Liam stuck his head in the doorway, squeezing through the door and closing it behind him as quickly as possible.

"Cancel whatever plans you've got for the night. We've got a long one ahead of us."

"But--"

Louis looked up from his computer and saw Liam twisting his hands together nervously and giving Louis a hopeful look.

"What," Louis remarked flatly. "What is it?"

"It's just--" Liam sighed softly as he scratched the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly. "It's nearly Christmas."

"And?"

"Well, y'know, there's parties and such, and--"

"Get to the point, Liam."

"I--" Liam gulped. "I'm hosting a party?"

"You're hosting a party," Louis repeated. Liam nodded and Louis sighed loudly.

"I emailed you an invite--"

"Liam--"

"I know you RSVP'd no but I was hoping--"

"I had plans of my own!" Louis snapped quickly, hardly realizing what he was saying before it came tumbling out of his mouth.

"You did?" Liam interrupted, his voice switching from nervous to hopeful in nothing flat. Louis blinked, momentarily unsure of how to continue with his lie.

"Not that it's any of your business," Louis said before clearing his throat, "but yes."

He didn't, really. The most that Louis was going to do after leaving the office that night was polish off his bottle of whiskey and maybe order takeaway. If this week was anything like the last, the whiskey would be definite whereas the takeaway is optional.

"But now I've got to take care of _this_ ," Louis gestured to his computer, "and I need you here so you're just going to have to cancel."

"But--"

"But what?"

"It's just, Zayn--"

"What's more important, Liam: your job or some stupid holiday party with your precious boyfriend?" Louis spat.

"It's not--"

"Never mind," Louis said with a huff.

"But--"

"Get out, Liam."

"I just-- I can--"

"Get out!" Louis roared, slamming his fist against his desk as he angrily rose to his feet. "You're fired, pack up your desk and get out!"

Liam stared at him, his jaw dropped open in astonishment. Louis immediately tore his eyes away from Liam's face, ignoring the pounding of his heart as he sat back down and stared at the papers on his desk.

He didn't dare move a muscle until Liam slipped out, and even then he could hardly do a thing.

Louis regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth; Liam didn't deserve being treated that way. But he couldn't bring himself to get up, to run after him and apologize.

He stayed holed up in his office, long after the last of his employees left after having turned off all the lights. Not a single one came into his office to say goodbye or wish him a happy holidays. Louis tried not to think about how Liam had always made sure to say good night, even though he almost never said it back.

Louis ended up staying so late that he fell asleep in the middle of working, pen still in hand as he collapsed forward onto his desk. It wasn't the first time he'd fallen asleep at his desk; the last time he'd woken up to a fresh cup of tea waiting for him.

This time, he woke up just before midnight with drool on his chin and a sheet of paper stuck to his face. He groaned, chucking the paper aside and wiping his mouth before checking the clock and rubbing his eyes. It was then that he realized he wasn't alone in the room, and he stiffened.

"Who're you?" he demanded.

In front of him was a woman who couldn't have been that much older than he was, staring at him with long brown hair, kind eyes, and a soft smile. He'd never seen her before in his life, and normally Louis would've immediately called the police about some strange woman appearing in his office. Yet there was something calming about her; something that made him want to know _why_ she was there.

"My name is Eleanor," she answered as she stepped forward, "and I'm the Ghost of Christmas Past."

"The what?" Louis asked with a scoff. "You can't be."

"'Course I can, I just told you."

"No, but--" Louis had to laugh. "That's, that's not real! It's from a book, innit?"

"Are you saying nothing that's in a book can be real?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at him and making him feel more than slightly foolish.

"No, but--" he groaned, putting his head back down onto the desk. "This can't be happening."

"None of that, c'mon," she said as she reached over and smacked him on the head. "Get up, we've got a lot to do."

"No, I've got--" Louis lifted his head to look at his computer, where hours before he'd been a little more than halfway done with the project he'd been assigned through email. But now as he looked at it, he saw that it was already complete and had been emailed to the higher-ups already. "What the--"

"See? Nothing to worry about." Eleanor smiled. "C'mon."

"Did you-- What--"

"Oh, do shut up and get off your lazy arse already." Eleanor huffed. "We don't have all night!"

Still sputtering about his mysteriously completed project, Louis rose to his feet just as Eleanor made her way around the desk. The moment she touched his arm, they suddenly disappeared from Louis' office and reappeared in the middle of a street.

"Fuck!" Louis shouted as he wrapped his arms around himself and shivered violently. "It's bloody cold!"

"Stop being such a baby," Eleanor replied as she tugged on his arm, leading him down the street.

"They never mentioned this in the films," Louis grumbled as he continued to rub his arms in an attempt to warm himself up.

He nearly stumbled as Eleanor came to a stop in front of one house in particular, and it was then that Louis realized he recognized the neighborhood they were in.

"Hang on," he said as he glanced around, "is that my mum's house?"

"Tis," Eleanor replied.

"It can't be," Louis said as he stared up at the house. "It looks just like it did when I was…"

"Twelve." Louis turned to look at Eleanor, who was smiling widely. "I do believe you're inside at this very moment, putting on a play with your sisters."

"But--"

Eleanor ignored Louis' soft outburst and pushed the gate open, heading up the walkway towards the front door. Louis quickly followed, whispering harshly as he went.

"You can't just go in there!"

"Honestly," Eleanor replied with a sigh, "as much of an expert as you are on this sort of thing, you're forgetting the most important part: they can't _see_ or _hear_ us."

"Oh." Louis swallowed harshly, still staring nervously at his mum's front door. "Right."

"Right," Eleanor repeated, her tone slightly mocking as he grabbed Louis' wrist and pulled him through the front door.

Louis was rendered speechless immediately; his senses overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and _smells_ of his mum's house during Christmas. His mouth watered as he remembered the incredible feasts she'd prepare during the holidays, not to mention all the cookies she'd make. His heart twisted painfully inside his chest when he thought back to all the times she'd let him help bake and decorate - something he'd held over his sisters because they were still too young to properly help.

"I can't do this," he murmured, quickly turning away from the sounds of laughter coming from the next room.

Eleanor caught up to him effortlessly after he'd run through the door and back out onto the street, breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down. She gently laid her hand on his back and at once, they were back in his office. But even then, it wasn't his office as he'd left it, it was his office three years ago at the annual Christmas party.

Not only that, but it was the first Christmas party after he'd hired Liam.

"Why did you bring me here?" Louis demanded, only slightly in a better mood than before but that was mostly due to the fact that they were no longer outside.

"Look how happy you were," Eleanor said gently as she pointed Louis out to himself across the room.

Louis looked at himself for a moment then turned away. He remembered that party clear as day, he didn't need the visual reminder.

"So what?" Louis muttered. "M'just fine, the way I am."

Eleanor didn't answer and Louis didn't turn to see the wholly unimpressed look she gave him. He was purposefully staring at the floor because he knew what was coming next and he was hoping against hope that Eleanor was going to take him away before it happened.

"Liam!"

Louis cringed at the sound of his own voice, carrying above the din of the party. He looked up just in time to see Liam pass in front of him, a wide smile on his face as he made his way towards the other Louis.

In spite of himself, he turned and watched as Liam and his past self started up their own conversation. Louis could remember how delighted he'd been at the mere sight of Liam, how excited he'd been for that party.

But now, watching it all happen again right before his eyes, Louis felt his stomach turn because he knew exactly what was coming.

"There's someone I want you to meet," Liam said as he turned away from Louis to scan the crowd.

"Who's that?" Louis felt his heart start pounding; the sound of his own voice, still filled with joy and excitement, gave him an overwhelming feeling of dread.

"Zayn!" Liam called, laughing as he waved someone over to them.

Louis didn't need to relive the scene with his own eyes, he remembered vividly how his heart had dropped into the pit of his stomach when Liam tucked Zayn under his arm and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Louis, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Zayn." Liam was still smiling widely even though Louis' smile had faded into a look of utter shock. "Zayn, this is Louis."

"So you're the one he won't shut up about," Zayn said with a teasing chuckle as he held out his hand to Louis. "Good to finally meet you."

"S-Same," Louis stuttered, taking Zayn's hand and fighting like hell not to want to try and break his fingers. "Pleasure's all mine."

Zayn continued in telling Louis - and embarrassing Liam by doing so - all the things he'd heard about him from Liam and how happy he was that Liam seemed to enjoy his job so much.

Louis listened for as long as he could before he found himself making an excuse to leave their company. He ignored Liam's protest and disappeared into the crowd, passing by Louis and Eleanor without a glance behind him.

"Get me out of here," Louis ordered as he rounded on Eleanor.

"Louis--"

"I don't want to be here anymore!" Louis shouted. "Take me back!"

At once, Louis found himself back in his office. Eleanor was nowhere to be seen, and Louis collapsed into his chair and took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

That night had been the catalyst that set off the abrupt change in Louis' demeanor, he knew that. He didn't need it shoved in his face all over again.

Louis couldn't help it; he'd never been able to look at Liam the same way after that night. He'd felt like a fool about the whole thing, and the only thing that seemed to ease the ache in his chest was to treat Liam like anyone else in the office.

But he didn't, really. If anything, he treated Liam the worst out of all of his employees. But Liam kept coming to work, day after day. Louis didn't know why, and he'd never dare to ask.

A harsh sob escaped Louis' mouth and he quickly buried his face in his hands to muffle the sound, unwilling to listen to himself cry even if nobody else was around. He was soon shaking from the force of his unheard sobs and curling in on himself as though that was going to make it all better.

"Bit of a mess, aren't you?"

Louis jumped at the sound of the voice, and he looked up to see a blonde man standing before him with his arms crossed. He furiously wiped at his eyes before getting to his feet and staring the man down.

"How'd you get in here?"

"Never mind, that. What's important is I'm here now." He stuck out his hand to Louis with a large grin. "Name's Niall, and I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present."

"I should've guessed," Louis grumbled to himself as he reluctantly shook Niall's hand. "You here to show me all the fun I _could_ be having?"

"Now you're getting it!" Niall clapped his hands together and they were suddenly in the middle of a party in a house Louis had never seen before.

"Erm, Niall?" Louis said as he turned around to see Niall stuffing his face with food off one of the tables behind them. "Where are we?"

"We--" Niall paused to swallow, "are in the home of one Liam Payne."

"What?!" Louis all but shouted, thankfully remembering that nobody around him was able to hear or see him or else he would've been extremely embarrassed at his outburst. "Why on Earth would you bring me here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Niall said as he snatched a few more cookies off the table and shoved them into his pockets.

"Stop that!" Louis chided, smacking Niall's shoulder. "How can you even think of eating at a time like this?"

"M'always hungry," Niall answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Besides, this isn't about me, is it?"

Louis sighed dramatically, crossing his arms as he glanced around the party. "He's not even here. Why am I here?"

"C'mon, you numpty." Niall grabbed Louis' arm and hauled him through the party, ignoring Louis' questions as to where they were going as they went up the stairs.

"I don't think we're supposed to be up here," Louis whispered harshly.

"What're you whispering for?" Niall asked with a laugh. "Nobody can hear you."

"I know that," Louis replied in a normal tone of voice. "Just saying, we're being rude."

"Oh, yeah, like that's ever stopped you."

Louis glared at Niall, but didn't argue any further when he lead him through a closed door. Inside the room they found Liam and Zayn talking quietly, and Louis' heart nearly broke into a thousand pieces when he saw the tracks of tears streaming down Liam's face.

"I dunno what I did," Liam said miserably.

"He's a twat," Zayn replied as he hugged Liam tightly. "He's been a twat for years, I've been telling you."

"But he's not," Liam insisted, "I know he's not, deep down."

"That may be," Zayn said with a sigh, "but it doesn't excuse the way he's treated you."

"I just--" Liam cut himself off with a depressed sigh, "I wish I knew what I'd done."

"It wasn't you," Louis whispered. "It was me."

"You should sue," Zayn said firmly. "Wrongful termination, and all that."

"I couldn't," Liam said as he shook his head. "I could never."

"I know," Zayn replied as he kissed Liam's temple. "You're too much of a softie to even think about it."

"S'pose I should've given up hope years ago, yeah?" Liam sighed, burying his face in the crook of Zayn's neck. "Dunno why I kept it up all these years."

"Because you're Liam." Zayn chuckled fondly. "And you had a crush."

Louis stopped breathing; Liam had a _crush_ on _him_?!

"I feel so bloody stupid. Why'd you let me go on with it?"

"Because you were so cute about it," Zayn went on, "and I love seeing you like that. Besides, he was well fit."

"Is," Liam corrected. "He still is, y'know."

"Yeah, but now he's a twat."

Louis squawked indignantly and nearly lunged at Zayn, stopped by Niall throwing out his arm.

"You couldn't hit him if you tried," he reminded Louis. He huffed loudly in response and crossed his arms.

"I don't get it," he muttered. "Why are they--"

"I was hoping that tonight would be different," Liam interrupted, and Louis immediately shut up. "Y'know? That maybe tonight he'd say yes and come to the party and...and…"

"Things would be different?" Zayn offered, gently stroking his thumb along Liam's cheek.

"Yeah," Liam answered softly. "It was a dumb idea."

"It's not your fault, Liam." Zayn sighed. "He never gave you chance, did he? Christ, even when you first introduced us, he ran off twenty seconds later."

Louis winced, the fact that he'd only just relived that memory still stung. Liam groaned pathetically and buried his head against Zayn further, knocking him back onto the bed beneath them and making him laugh.

Louis turned away from the sight but he could still hear the laughter and shuffling about from the two of them; the sounds made his heart ache and skin crawl all at once.

"Liam!" Zayn chided with a soft shriek. "Stop that!"

"What?" Liam replied. "It'll make me feel better."

"Niall," Louis muttered in a low voice. "I want to go."

"All our friends are downstairs and you want to do this _now_?" Zayn replied with a disbelieving laugh.

"M'sure they already think we're doing it anyway."

"We're just getting to the best part," Niall said, elbowing Louis in the ribs.

"Excuse me, I came up here to _comfort_ you, not to shag you."

"Niall!"

"But it would be comforting," Liam insisted. "Help me forget all about Louis!"

"Maybe later," Zayn said with a laugh as he got up from the bed, "still dunno if I've forgiven you for letting his name slip the other night when I was blowing you."

Louis froze, his cheeks on fire as Zayn passed by with a laugh.

"I said I was sorry!" Liam cried as he stood up from the bed. "You didn't see Louis that day, his lips all red and swollen, Christ," he mumbled to himself as he passed Louis by.

The door closed behind them and out of the corner of his eye, Louis could see Niall with his hands clamped over his mouth as he was desperately trying not to laugh.

"I don't want to hear a word," he muttered darkly. "Take me back."

"Not just yet," Niall said, a chuckle escaping before he clapped his hands together again.

For the second time that night, Louis found himself in his mother's house. This time, he was standing in the middle of the kitchen faced with his mother and oldest younger sister, Lottie.

"He's not coming, is he?" Lottie asked, not looking up from her task of decorating cookies.

"M'afraid not, love."

"Dunno why I thought he might this year," Lottie said with a sad sigh.

"He just couldn't get away from work," Jay replied. "I'm sure he'll try and come next year."

"Sure," Lottie replied with another huff. Jay wrapped her arm around Lottie's shoulders and kissed the top of her head.

"Why don't you go see what the others are up to, yeah? Maybe open a present with Ernie and Doris?"

"Mum," Lottie whined, fighting a smile, "m'not young anymore, you can't bribe me with presents."

"Can too. It's in the rules as your mum, now go on."

Lottie rolled her eyes but dutifully left the room with a spring in her step. Jay smiled as she watched her daughter go, but as soon as Lottie was out of the room her smile faded and Louis hated the look on her face.

"M'sorry, Mum," he whispered as his bottom lip trembled.

He and Niall watched as his mum crossed the room and picked up an opened envelope, taking a card out of it and opening it to read the message scrawled inside.

"Thought you'd come through this year, Liam," she whispered.

"Liam?" Louis repeated, giving Niall a curious look. Niall shrugged his shoulders and pointed to the card, and Louis cautiously walked towards his mum to get a look at what the card said.

He recognized the handwriting immediately; he'd seen Liam's carefully-crafted letters enough times to know it anywhere. But what he didn't understand was why Liam was sending a Christmas card to his mum, of all people.

Unfortunately, Louis didn't get a chance to read what was written because Jay closed the card and gently put it back in its envelope, hiding it under the stack of mail on the table before going back to her cookies.

Louis reached out towards it just as one of his sisters shouted from the other room, catching Jay's attention and drawing her out of the kitchen. Louis turned back to the pile of mail, only to see Niall's hand wrapped around his wrist.

"No, Louis."

Louis narrowed his eyes at Niall. "What, you can steal cookies from Liam's party but I can't read a bloody card?!"

"S'not your card, is it?" Niall sighed. "Besides, it's time to go."

"No," Louis said quickly, "I don't want to go. I want to read the card!"

"M'sorry, Louis."

"No! I don't want to go!" he shouted, but it was too late.

Louis was standing in the middle of a deserted street; even though it was snowing lightly, Louis didn't feel cold anymore. He whipped around, searching for where Niall had gone and finding absolutely no one around.

"Where are you?!" he shouted. "Come back! You can't leave me here!"

He fell to his knees and stared up at the sky, his breathing turned shallow as he began shaking again. He gasped for breath, unsure if he was crying or laughing hysterically as he cried out for someone, anyone to hear him.

Out of nowhere, he heard footsteps approaching him. Louis strained to hear them, trying to determine which direction they were coming from. He turned his head in all directions but couldn't see anyone through the darkness of the street.

"Show yourself!" he shouted.

A figure suddenly appeared right in front of him, and startled Louis so much that he fell backwards onto the pavement. Louis looked up at the man standing over him, fully expecting to see him dressed in all black with a hood over his head to hide his face.

Instead, the man staring down at him was dressed entirely normally and was _smiling_ at him. He had curly, brown hair and _dimples_ , for chrissakes.

"S'pose you're the Ghost of Christmas Future?" Louis asked, unable to keep sarcasm out of his voice as he gave the man a disapproving look.

He nodded in return and held out his hand to help Louis up. He even tried to help Louis brush the snow off of his clothes once he'd gotten to his feet.

"That's quite enough, thank you." Louis sighed. "Are you here to take me back home?"

The man shook his head, still smiling at Louis.

"'Course not," Louis huffed. "What are you here for, then?"

He held out his hand to Louis again, who stared at it awkwardly for a moment before cautiously taking it. Instead of instantly appearing in a different place, the man slowly led Louis down the street and around the corner until they were standing in front of a building Louis had never seen before.

"What's this?" he asked.

The man didn't answer, he simply walked up the steps towards the front door and motioned for Louis to follow.

"No, of course you don't talk. Why on Earth would you fucking talk," Louis grumbled to himself as he reluctantly followed.

Once they were inside, Louis realized that they were back in Liam's flat. Unlike it had been before, it was completely devoid of people as well as furniture.

"Where is everything?" Louis asked as he looked around. "There was so much stuff in here before, I could've sworn Liam was a bloody packrat."

The man put a finger to his lips and pointed up the stairs, and Louis raised an eyebrow.

"What, you want me to go up there?" The man nodded. "Not bloody likely. Last time I was up there I nearly had to watch Liam and his stupid boytoy shag."

The man rolled his eyes and gave Louis a shove towards the stairs, obviously not willing to take no for an answer. Louis grumbled under his breath as he stomped up the stairs like a child being sent to his room, crossing his arms when he reached the top.

"Now what?" he demanded. The man, who had followed silently, pointed to the same room that Niall had shown him earlier and Louis rolled his eyes.

He pushed the door open with his foot to reveal Liam sitting alone on the edge of the bed with a drink in one hand and a photograph in the other. As Louis looked around the room, he realized that all the pictures and knick-knacks that had filled the room hours ago had disappeared.

"Where's Zayn?" he murmured softly, looking to the man for an answer even though he knew he wasn't going to get one.

He didn't get an answer from Liam either, all Louis heard was Liam's labored breathing until he broke down and started to cry.

"But--" Louis sputtered, rounding on the man who had led him here. "This can't be my fault, can it?"

The man gave him a pointed look and Louis just grew more frustrated.

"But it can't! All I did was fire him, and I didn't even mean to! I was angry, and upset, and--" Louis paused and turned back to Liam, "I didn't think something like this would happen. Not because of me."

The man laid a hand on Louis' shoulder and the room around them disappeared, changing into Louis' own apartment. It looked as though no one had been in there in days; a thin layer of dust coated nearly everything, but a card on Louis' kitchen table caught his eye and he had to see what it was.

Just as he was about to reach out for it, he read the first line and immediately felt his throat close up.

_Johannah and Daniel Deakin request your presence at the wedding of their daughter, Charlotte Tomlinson to…_

"Lottie's getting married?" he whispered, slowly turning away from the invitation. The man nodded and Louis laughed softly. "Where? I have to-- I go, right? I have to go, she's--"

Louis cut himself off when the man started shaking his head, his smile fading quickly to a frown.

"No? Where am I?" Louis demanded, striding over to the man and fisting his hands in his shirt. "What's more important than my sister's wedding?!"

The room started to change again, and by the time Louis realized it, they were already back in his office. Only instead of like the previous times, it was the middle of the day. Not only that, but Louis also noticed that he apparently had been promoted and gotten an even bigger office than he had before.

"Not bad," he remarked appreciatively as he looked out the window at the incredible view before turning back to look at the man, still standing close to him silently. "But this doesn't answer my question, where--"

The door to Louis' office suddenly swung open and Louis watched as his future self stormed in, a cell phone pressed to his ear and a tiny woman scrambling in after him looking as though she's fearing for her life. Louis can't really blame her at all, given the way he's shouting into the phone while simultaneously barking orders at her.

"S-Sir?" she squeaked, practically cowering when future-Louis looks up at her.

"What?" Even Louis flinched at the sound of his own voice, far harsher than he's ever heard it before.

"Y-You asked me to remind you about your sister's wedding…"

"What about it?"

"It's tonight," she said, her voice still quivering. Future-Louis sighs loudly, as though his assistant had just personally insulted him by reminding him.

"Call and cancel."

"I-- Sir?"

"I can't possibly go." Louis stared at his future self, unable to keep his jaw from dropping. "Send them a fruit basket or something with my apologies. Now get out."

"You bastard!" Louis roared at himself. "You don't send a fucking fruit basket to your own sister for her wedding!"

Louis rounded on the man, so overcome with anger that he started to shake him as though he were the one Louis was angry at.

"You have to fix this! I'm not that man! I won't ever be that man!"

"Stop shouting at me!"

Louis jumped back, never having expected the man to actually _answer_ him.

"You...you can talk?"

"Of course I can talk," he replied with a huff. "M'not supposed to, but who could keep quiet when you're such an arsehole?"

"Hey! I--"

"No, you shut up and you listen. You don't want to be that man?" He pointed at future-Louis and Louis shook his head violently. "Then you need to fix it; fix everything you've gone and mucked up in your life."

"But...how?" Louis asked quietly.

"You've got to figure that out for yourself, haven't you?" He crossed his arms and sighed. "Christ, I've never lost my temper like this with anyone. But you," he chuckled wryly, "you take the bloody cake."

"I think I liked you better when you didn't talk," Louis grumbled. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Harry," he replied. "S'pose you want me to take you back now, yeah?"

"Will you?" Louis asked. "You're not going to show me all alone on my deathbed?"

Harry frowned. "Is that something you really want to see?"

"No--"

"Because I can, if it's going to get the point through your thick skull--"

"I said no!" Louis shouted. "Take me home!"

"Alright!" Harry yelled. "No need to shout, Christ."

Louis awoke with a start. He was back in his office; the sun was just starting to peek in through the blinds over his window. He let out a hysterical laugh as he jabbed the space bar on his keyboard, waking his computer up so he could check the date and time.

"I'm back," he whispered. "They really did it all in one night."

He scrambled to grab his office phone, quickly dialing his mother's home phone number despite the early hour of the morning. The line rang and rang, but he wasn't going to give up. The machine picked up after the sixth ring, and Louis felt his heart expand when he heard the sound of his mother's voice on the recording.

"Mum?" he said after the beep had come and gone. "Mum, it's Louis. Are you there? Please, pick up." He waited a moment before continuing. "I'm so sorry, Mum. For everything. I know that doesn't mean much over the phone, but I am. And...I'm coming home."

Louis laughed in spite of himself, feeling the weight lift from his chest the more he talked.

"I've got something I have to do before I can leave London, but I swear, Mum, I'll be home for Christmas. Tell the girls and Ernie I'll be there as soon as I can. Love you, Mum. Can't wait to see you."

Louis let out a deep breath after he hung up the phone, feeling dizzy and giddy for the first time in ages. He was suddenly brimming with energy and his mind was racing with all the things he needed to do.

But first and foremost, he had to find Liam.

The problem was, even after having been to his flat twice, Louis didn't actually know where Liam lived.

Thankfully, all he had to do was search through his personnel files until he came across Liam's and quickly copy down his address. In the back of his mind he was sure this was breaking any number of HR rules, but he couldn't be bothered to care.

Truth be told, he was about to break a hundred more by going to Liam's flat so there was no reason to worry about it now.

With Liam's address clutched tightly in his hand, Louis grabbed his coat and ran out of his office as quickly as he could. Waiting for the elevator proved to be torture as Louis found himself jabbing the down button over and over until the doors finally opened.

If not for the doorman on the first floor who was able to call a cab, Louis wasn't sure what he would've done. But within half an hour he was standing on the front steps to Liam's flat, staring at the doorbell and still working up the courage to press it.

As it turned out, Louis didn't have to ring the doorbell because after nearly five minutes of inner debate the door swung backwards and Liam nearly ran into him.

"Louis?" he sputtered, quickly pulling his headphones out of his ears and staring at Louis in wonder. "What're you--"

"I'm sorry," Louis interrupted in a rush. "I'm so, so sorry. For everything."

"I-- I don't..." Liam blinked, staring at Louis in disbelief.

"I've been so awful to you, Liam. You don't deserve that, you never have. I don't-- I can't even begin to explain why," Louis let out a self-deprecating laugh, "I've been such an idiot and I'm so sorry. You're not fired, please say you'll come back."

"I--"

"Not today," Louis added quickly, "obviously. Take the holidays off, you deserve them. God, you deserve the world for having put up with me."

Louis half-buried his head in his hands, so ashamed of himself that he couldn't bear to have Liam even look at him anymore. He froze when he felt Liam's hands on his own, gently prying them away from his face.

"Come inside?" he asked softly. Louis nodded, letting Liam pull him through the doorway and into his flat.

Louis followed Liam wordlessly as he led him into the kitchen, putting a kettle on without even asking Louis if he wanted tea.

"You always want tea," Liam reasoned a few minutes later when he handed Louis a mug and gestured for him to sit.

"I'm sorry," Louis repeated, unable to say much else.

"You don't have to apologize again," Liam said with a soft laugh. "Think you've done it enough."

"But I do," Louis said as he shook his head, "I can never apologize enough for the way I've been."

"It's alright, you're here now, and--" Liam cut himself off as he turned slightly pink, having reached out to take Louis' hand in a moment of bravery. Louis looked down at their hands and felt his heart start beating faster.

"Liam, I--"

"Liam, what's--"

Louis and Liam looked up to see Zayn standing in the doorway of the kitchen looking sleepy and confused. He narrowed his eyes at Louis, immediately crossing his arms.

"What're you doing here?"

"I--" Louis cleared his throat as he pulled his hand away from Liam's. "I came to apologize."

"Fat lot of nerve you've got," Zayn replied with a hollow laugh.

"Zayn," Liam said gently.

"Don't 'Zayn' me, Liam!" Zayn huffed. "He can't just waltz in here, toss a few apologies around and expect everything to go back to the way it was!"

"I don't want it to!" Louis said quickly. "Absolutely not!"

"You don't?" Liam asked softly. Louis turned to look at him and slowly reached out to take his hand again.

"No," he chuckled softly. "Obviously I want you to come back to work, but I don't want things to be the same. I never want to treat you that way again. I can't, and I won't."

"Can you promise that?"

"Zayn--" Liam sighed.

"He didn't see you last night," Zayn whispered harshly. "He's saying all this, but how do we-- how can _you_ know that he'll keep his word?"

Louis opened his mouth to protest, but what could he say? How could he possibly tell them that he had seen Liam the night before; that he'd seen the both of them in an intimate moment. How was he ever going to make them believe his promise for everything to be different?

Liam and Zayn turned to look at him and Louis stared back helplessly.

"I...don't know how to make you believe me," Louis answered honestly. "I don't know what to say to make you believe that I never want to be the man I've been again."

Liam and Zayn stayed quiet, still staring at Louis who was trembling under their gaze.

"If it ever gets that way," Louis paused to take a deep breath, "I would rather quit, give up my career and let you move on with your life than put you through it again."

"I can't ask you to do that," Liam insisted. "I could never."

"You wouldn't have to," Louis promised. "This is my promise to you."

"But why?" Liam asked. "Why would you do that for me?"

"Because--" Louis stopped, tearing his eyes away from Liam to look cautiously at Zayn. "I--"

"Louis," Liam said softly, catching his attention again, "please, tell me."

Louis sighed heavily, staring down at his own hands and struggling to find the words.

"Because I like you, Liam." Louis let out a soft laugh, almost like a cry. "And...I just...like you."

"You complete arse," Zayn muttered.

Louis' head snapped up and his mouth went dry, thinking to himself that Zayn is two seconds away from lunging at him and beating him senseless. Louis closed his eyes and braced himself for impact, cautiously opening them when he heard Zayn start laughing.

"Wh--" Louis stuttered as he looked back and forth between Liam and Zayn, completely confused as to why Zayn was laughing at a time like this. "Why-- I don't--"

"You both are so bloody thick, no wonder it's taken three years to get here," Zayn replied, still laughing. "Though, I have to admit, I didn't expect you to up and fire Liam, you great tosser."

"I didn't--" Louis sighed heavily. "I said I was sorry!"

"And I forgave you--"

"No, hang on, Liam," Zayn interrupted, "you might've forgiven him but he's got a lot of kissing up to do if he wants to make this right."

"I--" Louis blinked, staring at Zayn in confusion. "I don't understand."

"Did you or did you not just tell Liam that you like him?"

"Well, yes, but--" Louis flushed. "--I thought you...and him…"

"Yeah," Zayn answered simply. "What about it?"

Louis blinked again before turning his head to stare helplessly at Liam. Proving to be no help at all, Liam just smiled at Louis in return.

"I don't--" Louis groaned loudly and laid his head down on the table. "Can someone just explain to me what the fuck is going on so my head doesn't explode?"

Louis flinched at the sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and he looked up to see Zayn sitting across from him with an amused, fond look. Liam reached out for his hand, smiling at Zayn before he turned back to Louis and took his hand as well.

"You see, Louis," Zayn said as he held out his other hand, "Liam and I are a package deal, yeah? You want one, you'd better want both."

Louis stared down at Zayn's hand for a moment before slowly looking up at Liam. He smiled at Louis and squeezed his hand, silently reassuring him to go with what he was feeling. Louis turned to look at Zayn, whose eyes had turned from fond to slightly nervous as he stared right back at Louis.

Taking a deep breath, Louis reached out and tangled his fingers with Zayn's, laughing as he let out the breath.

"In for a penny, in for a pound."


	7. Here We Come A-Wassailing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's a Payne family tradition to go caroling, but this year's anything but traditional.

Caroling around the neighborhood had been part of the Payne family Christmas tradition for as long as Liam could remember. He'd loved it as a kid, been embarrassed as a teenager, but now that he was home from uni for the holidays he found that he was happy just to spend time with his family. Even if it meant putting on the awful matching sweaters his mum had bought for the family that made him feel like they were the Weasleys.

Still, it made his mum happy to see him and his sisters wearing them, even if their smiles weren't always entirely genuine.

"I can't believe we're doing this again," Ruth groaned as she pulled on her coat.

"It makes Mum happy," Liam reminded her. "You said it yourself."

"I'd much rather just gather around the fire and sing," Ruth said with a huff.

"That's a camping trip," Nicola said with a smirk. "We're not bloody camping, are we?"

"Ready to go?" Their dad appeared in the hallway near the front door and all three Payne children immediately ceased their whining.

"Yep," Liam answered as he pulled on his hat. "Ready."

"Excellent," his dad replied.

"Kiss-arse," Ruth mumbled. Liam elbowed her for good measure, shrinking back when Ruth swatted at his arm.

"Quit it!" Nicola whispered harshly before their dad turned around again. They all stood still, feigning innocence just as well as they had when they were younger.

"Big smiles, yeah?" He chuckled. "This is for your mum, remember."

"See?" Ruth mumbled as they followed their dad out the door. "Even Dad doesn't wanna do this."

Liam chuckled to himself, pulling the front door shut behind them. Their family met up with two others from the neighborhood; the same people they always went caroling with in years past. As per usual, Liam kept to himself as the other 'kids' were more his sister's age than his own. His ears perked up when he heard his mum mention another family that was supposed to show up.

"Another?" he asked.

"Yes, Liam." His mum looked at her watch and sighed. "They're a few houses down, would you mind running down and see what's keeping them?"

"Umm, sure?" Liam swallowed harshly. "I mean, yeah. I can do that."

"Thank you, Liam." His mum smiled at him and kissed his cheek. "They're in number thirty. If one of the girls answers the door, tell her you're looking for Jay, alright?"

"Got it, Mum."

Liam carefully made his way down the sidewalk towards the house; it had snowed lightly during the morning, dusting the ground with a thin layer that - if Liam wasn't careful - would make him slip if he went too fast. He could still hear the chatter from the group near his own house as he climbed the steps leading to house number thirty, but once he got close to the door he could hear quite the racket coming from inside.

He rang the doorbell and waited a few seconds, but he wasn't sure if they'd even heard it since there didn't seem to be a break in the chaos inside. He rang it again and then knocked three times on the door, finally hearing someone shout "I'll get it!" from the other side of the door.

What Liam didn't expect was to have the door swing open and reveal a boy about his age on the other side, giving him a rather lecherous smile.

"Well, hello." The boy leaned against the door, still leering at Liam. "Who might you be?"

"Liam," he choked out. "Liam Payne."

"Hi Liam Payne." He chuckled. "What brings you to my door?"

"I'm looking for--"

"Tommo, what're you doing letting the cold air-- oh, hello."

Another boy joined the first at the door, grinning at Liam in a way that made him feel far less uncomfortable than the other boy had.

"This is Liam Payne," the first boy said to the second.

"M'name's Niall." He gestured to the boy beside him. "This here's Louis. It's his house."

"Good to meet you," Liam replied, still feeling awkward. "M'supposed to ask for Jay?"

"That's my mum," Louis answered, crossing his arms. "What d'you want with my mum?"

"Well, you see, my family and some of the others are going caroling, and--"

"Oh, I remember your mum talking about that!" Niall interrupted. "Sounded a bit stupid, but now…"

Liam flushed, tugging at his hat in the hopes that maybe it would cover his whole face. Louis hummed in agreement at Niall and smirked at Liam.

"Think it sounds fun! Give us a minute, Liam, yeah?"

"O--" The door slammed in Liam's face and he exhaled sharply, "--kay."

'A minute' easily turned into ten and Liam sat down on the steps as he waited for Louis and Niall to come back out. He was about to give up hope and go back to the group empty-handed (so to speak) when he heard loud voices coming from the other side of the door.

"I don't know any carols!" A little girl's high-pitched voice carried through the door and Liam laughed to himself.

"You'll be fine, Daisy," Louis assured her, opening the door a moment later, "just mumble along like I do."

"Or maybe they've got the words written out," Niall added, smiling at Liam. "Do you?" Liam nodded and Niall clapped his hands together. "See?"

"It's cold out!" Another one of the girl's cried. "I don't want to go!"

"You'll have fun, Phoebe," Louis said as he hugged her. "And I told you, we'll go out for cocoa afterwards."

"Promise?" she asked, staring up at Louis with wide eyes.

"Promise," he replied, kissing her on the top of the head. "Alright, Liam?"

Liam nodded, smiling down at the two little girls before him and giving them a little wave.

"Girls, this is Liam. Liam this is Phoebe," Louis nudged the girl tucked under his arm and she waved nervously.

"And Daisy," Niall added, tickling the girl standing near him.

"Nice to meet you both."

"What do we say, girls?" Louis prompted.

"Nice to meet you," they chorused.

"Alright, then." Niall grinned. "Let's get to caroling!"

Liam's mum and the others were only a little upset about having been kept waiting for so long, but the fact that Louis brought two of his little sisters along seemed to ease the tension. Liam knew his mum had a soft spot for young children, after all.

"So…" Louis began, clearing his throat as he watched Liam's mum fuss over Daisy and Phoebe while he, Niall, and Liam stuck to the back of the group. "How d'you feel about lyric changes?"

"Lyric changes?" Liam repeated. "What d'you mean?"

"Y'know, normal ones." Louis laughed, leaning in to sing in Liam's ear, "dashing through the snow, get the fuck out of my way…"

"Louis!" Liam chastised, unable to keep himself from laughing.

"Oh, what about my favorite?" Niall added. "Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg…"

"That's a good one!" Louis joined in as Liam buried his face in his hands.

"The Batmobile lost its wheel, the Joker got away!"

"I think--" Liam interrupted as Louis and Niall lost themselves in a fit of giggles, "maybe we should stick to the originals."

"Aww, spoilsport." Louis frowned, throwing his arm around Liam's neck. "But you're cute, so I'll go along with it."

"Look at him, blushing!" Niall teased, reaching out to pinch Liam's cheeks as they turned redder and redder.

"Shut up," Liam mumbled, swatting Niall's hands away. "S'from the cold."

"Uh-huh," Louis replied with a chuckle. "You keep saying that."

"I will." Liam turned away, hiding his smile from the other two.

"You think maybe we should catch up to the others?" Niall asked, and Liam looked up to see that the group was already halfway down the block.

"Probably," Louis replied with a laugh. "But I'd rather stay here and keep making Liam blush."

"It is fun, innit?" Niall grinned.

Liam buried his head in his hands, laughing along with Louis and Niall as they jogged to catch up with the group. They still stuck to the back when they caught up, but that was mainly so Louis and Niall's slightly dirty commentary wouldn't reach the ears of the adults.

"You're coming with us to get cocoa afterwards, y'know," Niall whispered.

"Absolutely. No choice in the matter," Louis added.

"Is that right?" Liam asked teasingly.

"Of course. Daisy and Phoebe would be crushed if you said no," Louis replied with a straight face. Liam looked to Niall who nodded in response, and Liam laughed as he shook his head.

"Well I can't let the girls down, can I?"

Louis beamed widely. "Definitely keeping you around, Liam Payne."


	8. Yuletide Treasures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn thinks that maybe Harry and Louis got a little carried away with their Christmas tree.

"Don't just _stand_ there, Zayn!" Louis huffed. "Make yourself useful and grab a box!"

"Where did this all come from?" Zayn asked as he stepped in through the door, quickly shutting it behind him after his moment of surprise from nearly colliding with Louis and Harry two seconds after opening the door.

"Our mums," Harry answered with a smile as Zayn started taking off his scarf. He already had tinsel in his hair; something that Zayn was sure Louis had to do with.

"It's about time you got home, we've been waiting for hours," Louis added, suddenly reappearing in the room empty-handed.

"I had a meeting after classes," Zayn tried to explain, but Louis just rolled his eyes. "What's going on?"

"You'd know if you checked your phone once in a while," Louis snapped. "Can't believe we waited for you," he mumbled as Zayn patted down his pockets looking for his phone.

"Lay off, Lou," Harry said quietly, nudging Louis with his elbow as his hands were still full. "It wouldn't have been the same without him."

Zayn cheered in triumph when he finally located his phone at the bottom of his book bag, seeing about a hundred texts from Louis all at once.

"You...bought a Christmas tree?" he asked slowly as he scrolled through the messages, giving Louis an incredulous look. "How'd you even get it here?"

"We--"

"Never mind!" Louis interrupted, pushing Harry into the other room and yelling at Zayn to follow immediately. Zayn rolled his eyes, trying to shed his outer layer as quickly as possible so as to not antagonize Louis any further.

When he made it into the living room, he couldn't help but let out a disbelieving laugh at the tree they'd picked out. He'd been expecting either one that was far too big for their common area - a testament to how pushy Louis can be, Zayn could hear him saying 'no, it _will_ fit!' in his head - or one akin to the one in the Charlie Brown Christmas special because Harry felt sorry for it or something.

Instead, he was met with what could be considered the perfect Christmas tree: it was big enough that its branches were lush and plentiful but still short enough that it fit inside the room without taking up too much unnecessary space. Zayn turned to Harry and Louis to applaud them on their tree picking skills, but found himself laughing ridiculously hard instead because Harry had already managed to get himself tangled in the twinkly lights.

"Why does this always happen?" Harry whined.

"Because you're impatient as fuck," Zayn replied as he crossed the room to help Harry get untangled.

"Gemma used to wrap me up in lights," Harry said with a smile, "then she'd make me follow her around the tree as she strung them."

"Didn't you get dizzy?" Zayn asked, smiling fondly at Harry as he gently tugged on the strings of lights to pry them away from Harry's hands.

"Sometimes. One year I fell over and nearly brought the tree down with me."

Zayn barked out a laugh and Harry beamed proudly, as though he'd never gotten Zayn to laugh that hard before. It wasn't true; Zayn had nearly toppled over from laughing so hard at one of Harry's stories just the week before.

"Are you two quite finished?" Louis asked. "We need to find out if these lights even work!"

"I'm sure they do, Louis." Zayn rolled his eyes. "Just find the plug and test it out."

Louis sighed loudly, as though Zayn were asking him to do the impossible. Still, he found the plug amidst the tangle around Harry's hands and jammed it into the wall. The three of them all grinned at each other when the lights lit up, flashing brilliantly across the room.

"See?" Zayn said as he turned to Louis. "Told you."

"Yeah, yeah," Louis muttered, biting back his smile. "Help Harold put them on the tree, yeah?"

By the time Zayn and Harry had finished putting the lights on the tree, Louis had unwrapped maybe half of the ornaments that he and Harry had gathered. They were all spread out on the coffee table and Zayn stared at them in wonder.

"Did our mums leave anything for themselves?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. My mum's got tons of ornaments," Harry answered brightly. "Reckon she was glad to be rid of most of these."

"My mum's got multiples of most of our ornaments," Louis added, "y'know, apart from the ones me and the girls made."

"Did you and your sisters fight over who got to put up what ornaments?" Zayn teased. Louis flushed, looking away as he smiled widely.

"Maybe. Shut up."

Zayn grinned as he reached down to pick up a small ornament in the shape of a white dove. He turned it over carefully in his hands before turning to the tree.

"Can I?" he asked. Harry and Louis both shrugged and he stepped forward to put it on one of the branches.

"Perfect," Harry said softly. "Y'know, Gemma and I used to fight over who got to put the first ornament on the tree."

"Why am I not surprised?" Zayn replied with a teasing grin.

The three of them took turns putting up ornaments, swapping stories from holidays past and sometimes bickering loudly over what should go where on the tree. At one point, Zayn simply laid down on the floor to watch as Harry and Louis argued over who got to put the star on top of the tree.

"But I can reach it!"

"Are you calling me _short_ , Styles?!"

"No, Lou, I just--"

"I can reach it just fine, thank you very much!"

Zayn sighed, rolling onto his back and closing his eyes as they continued to argue. He smiled to himself as he listened, endlessly amused at their ability to bicker about the most ridiculous things. He only realized that he'd fallen asleep when he awoke to Louis gripping his ankle and shaking him.

"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty."

"M'up," Zayn mumbled.

Louis rolled his eyes, but let go of Zayn's ankle in favor of going over to grab another ornament. He picked one up that was clearly homemade, and he paused for a moment before turning to the tree.

Zayn watched quietly as Louis gently ran his fingers over the patch of green and red, giving Louis a tentative smile when he turned around.

"I remember making this," he mumbled softly.

"Put it up, Lou." Zayn nodded towards the tree and Louis slowly shuffled over, giving it a prime location in the front.

"Y'know, my dad - Mark, not Troy - obviously," Louis clarified. Harry and Zayn both nodded as they waited for him to continue, "he had this one that he made when he was a boy. It was, well, it was bloody awful if you think about it," he paused to laugh, shaking his head, "he'd painted a light bulb blue and stuck some bits to it to make it look festive."

"A light bulb?" Harry asked with a small laugh.

"Yeah," Louis said, nodding slightly. "It was the ugliest thing I've ever seen, but he was so proud of it even as an adult."

"That's sweet, Lou." Zayn smiled.

"We should make our own!"

"What," Zayn asked, looking at Harry, "our own blue light bulbs?"

"No," Harry said, rolling his eyes, "our own ornaments. Y'know, together!"

"With like, felt and glitter and shit?" Louis asked. Harry nodded, and Zayn and Louis shared a look.

"You've already got stuff for these, haven't you?" Zayn asked as a smile crept over his face. Harry flushed a little, nodding bashfully as he twisted his fingers together.

"You're a bloody five-year-old," Louis said fondly. "Go on, go get the stuff. We'll do it right now."

"Really?" Harry asked, his eyes sparkling as he smiled. Neither Louis nor Zayn could keep from smiling at the sight of pure joy on Harry's face.

"Yeah, go on. We'll wait right here," Zayn promised. Harry quickly left the room, making a beeline for his own while Louis and Zayn stood still in front of the Christmas tree.

Zayn reached out for Louis, pulling him close and tucking him under his arm. Louis wrapped his arms around Zayn's torso and sighed in content.

"Thanks for waiting for me," Zayn murmured softly.

"Of course," Louis mumbled. "We'd never leave you out."

"I know," Zayn replied, smiling as he pressed his forehead against Louis' temple. They stood there, bathed in the glow of twinkly lights, basking in their memories and patiently waiting to make new ones.


	9. All I Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn can't wait to give Liam his Secret Santa gift.

Nearly everyone groaned loudly in Zayn's fourth period English class when the teacher announced they'd be doing a Secret Santa exchange. Out of the corner of his eye, Zayn caught a glimpse of the look on Liam's face and how pale he'd become.

Zayn felt a twinge in the pit of his stomach; he knew why Liam looked so terrified of the idea of doing a Secret Santa – barely anyone in their class acknowledged him on a day to day basis. Zayn didn't exactly understand why – it wasn't like Liam was rude or overtly strange. He just kept to himself, and no one ever made an effort.

That is, besides Zayn. He tried best he could to befriend Liam even despite their very different social standings. Occasionally his fellow popular footballer friends would ask why he's even bothering talking to 'that Payne kid', but Zayn would always brush them off. He didn't want to explain why, nor did he felt that he needed to.

Still, it made things difficult that no matter how often Zayn said hello to Liam in passing, he would only return Zayn's greeting with a panicked look and a mumbled hello in return. If Zayn tried to say anything else, Liam would become even more nervous and eventually run off.

When the Santa hat came around to Zayn's desk with everyone's names thrown in, he reached in blindly to pick one at random. He certainly didn't expect to draw Liam's name, but he couldn't help but smile as he read his name on the slip. He stole another glance at Liam as he passed the hat, and for once Liam looked back.

Of course, as soon as he noticed Zayn was looking at him he turned red and immediately looked back down at his desk. Zayn sighed softly to himself as he turned his attention back to his own notebook, wondering to himself if that counted as progress.

*

Liam's stomach dropped at the mention of Secret Santa. He barely ever talked to anyone in his class (or school, for that matter) and now he had to buy one of them a present? He just knew it was going to be a disaster.

_Maybe I'll just do a gift card_ , he thought to himself. _That's easy, and everybody likes them_.

He started listing the possibilities in his head for what type of gift card he would get depending on who in the class he got for a Secret Santa, when he looked across the room. He immediately caught the eye of Zayn, one of the most popular boys in their school.

Zayn confused Liam to no end: he was popular thanks to his status on the school's football team, yet he was the only one who went out of his way to say hello to Liam almost every day. Liam knew how to deal with being ignored, he'd been dealing with that in school for most of his life. He had no idea how to deal with someone who actually wanted to be his friend.

He quickly turned away, feeling his cheeks turn red as he cursed his own thoughts. _Friend?_ Zayn didn't need _Liam_ as a friend; he had plenty of friends who weren't weird and constantly ignored by their peers. It just didn't make any sense at all.

Liam was so caught up in mentally scolding himself for even considering the fact that Zayn would want to be his friend that he was completely caught off-guard when the Santa hat landed on his desk. Liam took a deep breath before reaching in to grab a name, curling the paper in his fist and resolutely not looking before passing the hat along.

Maybe, if he was lucky, he drew his own name. Technically you were supposed to put it back if you did that, but Liam figured nobody would notice anyway.

He couldn't even work up the courage to look until after the bell rang and the class had emptied out all around him. Only when the room was completely empty did he uncurl his fist and smooth out the tiny scrap of paper on his desk.

There, in the teacher's neat handwriting, was Zayn's name.

"You've got to be joking," Liam said aloud, turning his head to look at the desk where Zayn had been sitting not five minutes before.

Liam was positive that this was worse than getting someone he didn't speak to at all, because now he felt obligated to get something more than just a stupid gift card.

_But what?_ Liam thought to himself. _I don't even know what he likes, beyond football._

He groaned loudly and laid his head down on the desk, never so happy to have a free period in his life because it meant he could stay in the room and wallow for as long as he pleased.

*

Zayn was relieved he had his own computer in his room, because it meant that no one in his family could see how excited he was picking out Liam's gift. The hardest part turned out to be actually sticking to the price limit, given that once Zayn started looking he found that he wanted to buy everything.

He'd found out earlier in the year that Liam liked Batman - he'd seen Liam wearing a Batman shirt nearly every week. Zayn smiled when he thought of the time he'd complimented the shirt and Liam flushed before mumbling a thank you back.

Zayn wanted to get Liam to give him a better response than pink cheeks and a whispered response when it came to the Secret Santa gift, as cute as it was. He hoped that he'd at least get Liam to make eye contact with him and just maybe an actual conversation.

But first, he had to decide on what to actually get Liam. He was torn between choosing a new Batman shirt or getting Liam a Batman snapback. As he clicked back and forth between the pages on his computer, he groaned to himself at how silly this all seemed.

"It's just a gift," he mumbled. "But it's _important_ ," he reasoned a second later.

Frustrated by his inability to decide, Zayn laid his head down on his desk and sighed loudly. Perhaps this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

*

Liam was at a loss as to what to get for Zayn. He was psyching himself out of the whole thing before he even really got a start.

What if Zayn only ever spoke to him just because he was being polite? What if he didn't really like Liam at all, and if Liam got him something too personal it would just end up being completely awkward? Then everything would be even worse than it already was, and Liam would be out a possible friend.

Liam groaned to himself at the very thought, grumbling about how ridiculous it was that he was this worried about the prospect of having a friend.

But then again, this was _Zayn_. Liam wasn't sure if he could actually fathom what it would be like having Zayn as a proper friend. Zayn, with his fellow footballer friends who seemed to always be having a good time - not that Liam watched them constantly, because he _didn't_.

Still, the whole Secret Santa thing was making Liam very nervous. He just really didn't want to mess things up. Some days it was hard enough not having any real friends at his school, he most certainly didn't need to embarrass himself further with Zayn and end up being the object of mockery for the entire football team.

*

The day of the exchange for Secret Santa came up sooner than either of them were expecting, but each of their attitudes towards it were still at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

Zayn had ended up going a bit over the budget and getting Liam both a new shirt and a snapback, and he couldn't wait to see the look on Liam's face when he unwrapped them.

He'd been anxiously waiting for class to start since the beginning of the day when he dropped off Liam's present. The trick to the exchange was that they all had to deliver the gifts to the classroom before class started so their teacher could set them out on the corresponding desks. Zayn was rather proud of the fact that his present for Liam was quite a bit bigger than most of the ones he saw when he dropped it off.

But he was a little saddened that he wouldn't get to hand-deliver it to Liam himself. He didn't even spare a thought to what he'd be getting from his own Secret Santa; he was just far too excited.

When the afternoon finally came around and it was time for class, Zayn sat down in his desk and saw a rather messily wrapped gift waiting for him. Naturally, he assumed it was from one of his friends in the class because he knew how awful they all were with wrapping gifts. He turned it over and around looking for the name, but couldn't find it.

Confused but not dwelling on it, Zayn stole a glance across the room to where Liam had just sat down in front of his own gift and was staring at it with awe. His cheeks were already turning red and Zayn couldn't help but grin.

Even when their teacher gave the okay to open the gifts, Zayn kept his eyes on Liam to see his reaction rather than opening his own gift. All around them was the sound of paper ripping and excited chatter about what had been given to whom, but Zayn kept focusing on Liam's reaction to the gift.

The look on his face was priceless, exactly what Zayn had hoped for.

Liam scrambled to look at the tag on the wrapping paper, and then slowly turned his head to look at Zayn. When their eyes met, Zayn smiled widely and Liam turned even redder. Zayn was about to stand up from his own desk and go talk to Liam when one of his other friends grabbed his shoulder.

"What'd you get?"

Zayn looked away from Liam and stared at his friend blankly before glancing down at his unopened gift.

"Dunno," he answered. "S'pose I should open it and find out."

Out of the corner of his eye, Zayn glanced at Liam again but the moment had been lost; Liam was back to staring at the shirt and hat that Zayn had given him.

Zayn let out a soft sigh as he started tearing the paper away from his gift, wishing he'd been able to go over to Liam instead. As soon as he saw what was inside the wrapping paper, his breath was stolen.

He lifted up a Manchester United jersey with 'Malik' written on the back, only vaguely aware of the number of voices around him that were fawning over the jersey. He couldn't believe someone had been _this_ generous; and to think he'd been patting himself on the back for buying Liam a shirt and a hat.

Despite all the ruckus around him, Zayn felt a pair of eyes on him in particular and he turned his head to see that Liam was looking at him with a bashful smile. At once, it clicked in his mind and he smiled back.

"From you?" he mouthed, lifting up the jersey. Liam nodded, then turned away but continued smiling to himself.

At the end of the class, Zayn made sure to catch Liam before he left the room. His other friends hardly even noticed he wasn't going along with them.

"Hi," Zayn said, unable to keep from smiling.

"Hi," Liam answered softly, hardly able to look Zayn in the eye.

"Do you like yours?" he asked, gesturing to the shirt and hat clutched tightly in Liam's hand.

"Y-Yeah," Liam replied with a soft, shaky laugh. "They're incredible, I love Batman."

"I know." Zayn smiled wider. "I'm glad you like them."

"Thanks," Liam said, his voice dropping back to the soft tone.

"This is unbelievable," Zayn continued, holding up his jersey.

"You like it?" Liam asked, sounding unsure that it was the right sort of gift.

"Are you kidding?" Zayn laughed. "I love it, it's perfect!" He laughed again. "It's too much."

"It's nothing," Liam mumbled as he looked down at the floor. "My uncle has a shop, it's…" he trailed off with a laugh that sounded more like an exhale, "nothing, really."

"It's everything, Liam. I love it."

Liam kept staring down at the floor under their feet, but he was smiling again and Zayn couldn't help but feel accomplished for making Liam smile.

"What're you doing after this?" he asked as he placed his hand on Liam's shoulder, secretly rejoicing when Liam suddenly looked up in confusion.

"After...this?"

"Yeah, like, I was wondering, maybe you'd like to come to mine? We could watch Batman or something."

"Yeah?" Liam asked, still sounding so surprised that Zayn would do such a thing.

"Yeah," Zayn answered with another laugh. "I love Batman too."

"A-Alright," Liam replied. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely." Zayn squeezed Liam's shoulder. "Never been so sure in my life."


	10. In a Winter Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis isn't very excited about going outside.

"C'mon, Lou, it'll be fun!"

"Fun?" Louis scoffed. "How exactly is shoveling a driveway _fun_ , Harold?"

"You just have to make it fun!" Harry replied as he wrapped a scarf around Louis' neck.

"You're starting to sound like Mary Poppins," Louis said with another scoff, but with the way Harry was smiling at him it was hard to keep a smile off of his own face.

Harry started tugging on the ends of Louis' scarf, pulling him towards the door as he kept smiling. Louis' smile faltered when they stepped through the door and into the snow, remembering why Harry was dragging him outside in the first place.

The sky was grey and filled with clouds, and there was far too much snow on the ground for Louis' liking. As he looked around at the driveway, Harry grabbed two shovels and held one out to him. Louis grimaced, taking it with a loud sigh as he kicked at the snow around his feet.

"This is going to take forever," he grumbled.

"Probably, with an attitude like that," Harry replied, still smiling as he began to shovel. Louis huffed loudly and stared at Harry, watching him shovel all by himself for a while before ceding and starting to help.

Just because he was actually shoveling didn't mean Louis was going to stop complaining about it, though. He consistently griped and whined as he pushed the snow around, occasionally tossing it onto the sections that Harry had already cleared.

But Harry didn't scold him; he didn't snap or tell Louis off for being a pain in the arse. He just kept grinning at him and patiently clearing the snow off the driveway.

About halfway through, Harry paused to look at the house and he drew Louis' attention to the icicles hanging from the roof.

"Aren't they pretty?" he asked, looking from them to Louis in wonder as he walked towards the house.

"Don't stand under them!" Louis scolded. "You'll get impaled."

"I will not, you're such a worrywart." Harry rolled his eyes. "You should admire their beauty," he said as he turned his back to Louis to continue looking at the icicles.

"I'll admire your beauty," Louis mumbled under his breath. Harry turned back around and laughed as he gave Louis a strange look.

"You're ridiculous."

"Shut up," Louis retorted. "You are."

Harry snickered before picking up his shovel again and continuing to clear the driveway. Louis leaned on the handle of his shovel and watched Harry work, heaving a dramatic sigh as he stared up at the muddled sky. The air around them was calm and still; quiet apart from the scraping of Harry's shovel against the pavement.

"This is boring," Louis remarked.

"That's because you're not actually doing anything," Harry replied.

"Shoveling is boring too." Louis sighed. "Why did I agree to this again?"

"Because it's a nice thing to do for your mum. Plus it's exercise, and we get to be outside."

"In the freezing cold, doing manual labor." Harry gave Louis an unimpressed look and Louis stuck out his tongue in retaliation. "It's true."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but at the last moment he laughed instead and half-filled his shovel with snow and threw it in Louis' direction. It covered Louis' torso and he squawked indignantly as he quickly brushed himself off. Harry cackled, clutching his stomach and leaning on his shovel to keep himself upright.

"Have you quite finished?"

"No," Harry replied, smirking at Louis before he pushed his shovel away and tackled Louis into the snow bank behind him. Louis barely had enough time to say "no!" before they fell into the pile of snow and were instantly covered from head to toe.

Harry was giggling without abandon even as Louis pushed him off, grabbing a fistful of snow and smushing it into Harry's curls. Louis grinned wickedly as Harry pouted at him then shook his head to get the snow out of his hair.

In complete contradiction of his prior movement, Harry flopped onto his back in the snow and spread his arms out in order to start making a snow angel. Louis watched him for a few seconds before doing the same, turning his head to keep his eyes on Harry while Harry stared up at the sky.

When Harry brought his arms to a stop, Louis reached out to tangle their fingers together. Harry looked down at their hands and then up at Louis, smiling fondly as he squeezed Louis' hand. Louis rolled over onto his side and scooted through the snow to curl into Harry's side, bringing their faces within inches of each other.

"You're ruining your angel," Harry mumbled, his eyes darting back and forth between Louis' eyes and his mouth.

"M'not much of an angel, am I?" Louis replied, making Harry laugh softly.

"S'pose not," he answered, closing the tiny gap between them by pressing his lips against Louis'. He laughed against Louis' lips when he felt Louis wrap his free hand around his hip, pulling away even when Louis whined.

"I wasn't finished," he grumbled.

"We've still got clearing to do," Harry reminded him. "Told you I'd make it fun."

"If you say so," Louis replied, failing to hide his smile. "It's still bloody cold."

Harry rolled his eyes before he sat up, pulling Louis to his feet along with him. He brushed the snow off of Louis' jacket, then tugged on his scarf to pull Louis close enough to kiss again.

"Promise I'll warm you up later."

"You'd better."


	11. Won't Be the Same This Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall hates Christmas, Harry wants to know why, and Zayn just wants them to get along.

If there was one holiday that Harry absolutely loved, it was Christmas. He wasn't going to let the fact that he couldn't afford to go home for the holidays deter his love for it, so he decided to take it upon himself to decorate the entirety of his flat. He didn't think that his roommates, Zayn and Niall, would mind at all and he was actually rather excited about seeing the looks on their faces when they saw all of his hard work.

He definitely didn't expect to see Niall's face immediately fall when he came through the front door. Before Harry could say a word about it, Niall shook his head.

"I hate Christmas," he muttered.

"What--" Harry stared blankly at him. Even Zayn, who had come in behind Niall, was surprised to hear those words come out of Niall's mouth.

"What d'you mean, you hate Christmas?" Zayn asked, picking up where Harry had been unable to continue.

"I just do, alright?" Niall snapped, pushing his way past Harry and storming off towards his room. Both Harry and Zayn flinched when the door slammed shut behind him, but Zayn didn't seem as worried as Harry felt.

"I didn't think--" Harry scratched his head nervously and Zayn shrugged.

"You didn't know, Haz." Zayn sighed. "Might wanna take all this down, though."

Harry frowned. "But I worked really hard on it!"

"Yeah, but--"

"I'm gonna find out why Niall hates Christmas," Harry interrupted. "He can't _really_ hate it!"

"Haz--"

Harry didn't listen to Zayn's protests as he headed for Niall's room; at least having the common courtesy to knock before he stepped in. Niall had his back to the door as he sat at his desk with his headphones on and nose stuck in a book.

Harry approached him cautiously, saying his name a few times before he realized that Niall's music was up far too loud for him to hear anything else. When he finally tapped Niall on the shoulder, he nearly fell out of his chair.

"Sorry!" Harry said quickly. "I didn't mean to--"

"Jesus!" Niall clutched his chest. "Trying to give me a heart attack, are you?"

"No," Harry said with a sad frown. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"M'fine," Niall replied, switching off his music and turning to face Harry as he sighed.

"You don't seem fine." Harry sighed softly. "Do you really hate Christmas?"

"Yeah, I do, and you're not gonna change my mind, so--"

"But why? Christmas is the best time of the year!"

"Not for everyone," Niall snapped. "Just leave it, alright?"

"But--"

"Leave it!" Niall yelled. Harry immediately snapped his mouth shut and shrank away from Niall, having never heard him raise his voice like that before. Niall sighed heavily, turning his back on Harry and putting his headphones back on. Harry stood awkwardly in Niall's room for another minute before he turned around and left.

Zayn was waiting for him on the couch in the living room, welcoming him with open arms when Harry re-emerged from Niall's room. He immediately curled up into Zayn's side and buried his head against Zayn's shoulder, wrapping his arms around Zayn in a tight hug.

"I don't want to say I told you so…" Zayn whispered.

"Shut up," Harry mumbled. "I feel awful. I made Niall _yell_."

"That is impressive," Zayn said with a mild laugh. "I don't think I've ever even seen him glare at someone before."

"How do I fix this?" Harry asked, turning his head to look up at Zayn. "He probably hates me."

"Niall doesn't hate anyone," Zayn replied, gently patting Harry's head. "Take him out for a pint or something and all will be forgiven."

"You think?"

"It's Niall. He never says no to a pint."

"True." Harry laughed softly. "Might need you to get him to come out, though. I doubt he wants to talk to me right now."

Zayn rolled his eyes. "What would you do without me?"

"Cry. All the time."

*

It didn't take too much convincing to get Niall to go out to the pub with Zayn and Harry, especially after the promise of at least one free pint. He was still a bit upset by all the Christmas decorations in their flat - Harry was still hopeful that he could change Niall's mind - but once they were out, Niall's mood lifted.

Zayn kept a watchful eye on Harry, knowing that if he didn't then Harry would take any opportunity given to steer the conversation back to Niall's hatred of Christmas. He couldn't leave them alone, not even to go to the loo.

Everything seemed to be going extremely well after a few pints; Niall was laughing again and he and Harry's friendship was back to normal. They were all fairly tipsy when they left the pub, and even Zayn didn't see any harm in walking around a bit before heading back to their flat.

"S'cold," Niall whined softly, cuddling up to Harry as they walked. Zayn wrapped his arm around Niall's neck and pressed himself against Niall's other side.

"Where're we going, Haz?" he asked.

"Dunno," Harry replied. "Let's go this way."

If Zayn had been thinking clearly - or had he been sober - he would've realized that Harry was leading them further into the downtown area, towards the enormous Christmas tree the city had put up the week before. Unfortunately, by the time he realized it was already too late.

"Haz," he mumbled under his breath when the three of them came to a stop.

"What's all this?" Niall asked, blinking from all the bright lights in front of them. "Why are we here? Harry, wh--"

"I just thought," Harry interrupted, "that maybe you'd like to--"

"Like to what?" Niall demanded. "I told you already, I don't like Christmas. I didn't say anything about our flat because--" He let out an angry grunt as he pulled away from Harry and Zayn. "You can't just _do_ this!"

"I just-- I didn't think--"

"No, you didn't think!" Niall yelled. "That's just it: you didn't _think_! I--"

Harry braced himself for the inevitable rush of angry shouting, but Niall stopped. He'd turned back towards the enormous Christmas tree and all the lights, but instead of continuing his rant he stood frozen in place. Zayn took a timid step forward - assuming Niall wouldn't lash out at him - and peered over Niall's shoulder to see if he could understand why Niall had suddenly gone quiet.

Standing in front of the Christmas tree was a family - parents and two young boys - having another bystander take their picture. They looked ridiculously happy, just like the rest of the people who were taking pictures with the giant tree. Zayn glanced at Niall's face and felt his heart break at the very sight of Niall near tears.

"Niall," he whispered softly. "C'mon, let's go."

He let Zayn turn him around, but pulled his arm out of Zayn's grip almost immediately after.

"Niall--" Harry started, but Niall just pushed him away as he passed. Zayn hooked his arm through Harry's, giving him a sad smile as they followed behind Niall.

*

"He's been in there for ages."

"It's been like two hours, Haz."

"Niall's _never_ in his room this long."

"Yeah, well, maybe if you took down all these decorations he'd come out."

"That's not fair," Harry said with a deep sigh. "Why does he hate Christmas so much?"

"I dunno," Zayn replied. "But I doubt you're going to get it out of him."

Harry was about to protest when the door to Niall's room opened, silencing both him and Zayn at the same time. They nervously watched as Niall came shuffling into the living room with his head down, not saying a word until he sat down on the edge of the couch.

"M'sorry," he mumbled. "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"It's okay," Harry replied quickly. "I--"

"No," Niall interrupted. "You just want to know why I hate Christmas so much, yeah?"

Both Harry and Zayn nodded silently, waiting for Niall to continue. He took a deep breath as he slid down onto the couch, keeping close to the arm and putting a fair amount of distance between himself and the other two.

"Me mum left us when I was five. Told my dad she was going out shopping for some presents and just...never came back."

"Niall, I--" Niall held up his hand and Harry stopped talking, but he desperately wanted to throw his arms around Niall and hug him until all the bad feelings and memories faded away.

"Greg and I were so sure she'd come back, y'know? She couldn't just leave us like that, not so close to Christmas. I even waited up on Christmas Eve, thinking that she'd come walking in with her arms full of presents and a smile on her face." Niall chuckled softly. "Didn't even care if she had an excuse, just as long as she came back."

Harry and Zayn both nodded, trying their best not to keep quiet until Niall was done.

"When we woke up on Christmas morning and she still wasn't home, it just made everything so real. Like, even that young I knew nothing was ever gonna be the same. Christmas just...lost its spark."

"I'm so sorry," Harry choked out, just then realizing that he was nearly crying. "I didn't know, I'm so sorry."

"I know you didn't know," Niall replied. "S'my fault you didn't know, I should've said something before."

"You didn't have to," Zayn spoke up, "but I'm glad you did."

"Me too," Harry added, sniffing loudly as he wiped his eyes. "We're your family now, y'know."

"Yeah?" Niall asked as a small smile crept across his face. "Is that right?"

"Absolutely," Harry replied fiercely. "We're gonna make this your best Christmas ever."

"Harry," Niall said softly before dissolving into laughter. "M'not gonna change your mind on this, am I?"

"Probably not," Zayn said with a laugh. "Might as well just let him do it."

Harry turned to Zayn and beamed at him before turning back to Niall and slowly reaching out to tangle their fingers together. Niall's smile grew larger as he looked down at their hands and then up to Harry's face.

"Might as well, yeah?"

"Yeah," Harry replied. "Promise you won't regret it."


	12. A Midnight Clear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis convinces Zayn to sneak out in the middle of the night (for a perfectly good reason, of course).

Zayn had been looking forward to a good night's sleep all day. She'd been woken up at the crack of dawn by her mother and brothers for a full day of shopping to get ready for the upcoming holidays. Zayn had tried her best not to be petulant, but by the mid-afternoon she'd had just about enough of the whole thing.

To make matters worse, her best friend Louis had been texting her all day asking what she was doing and every time she pulled out her phone her mother would scold her. To say that Zayn's mother didn't exactly approve of Louis was an understatement: Zayn's mother thought Louis was a bad influence, plain and simple.

Zayn had tried to explain that Louis wasn't all bad all the time, she just had a bad habit of getting herself (and occasionally Zayn) into trouble. It was getting harder to placate her mother's worries, especially when Louis was constantly coming up with new things for the two of them to try out.

So in order to keep her mother happy and to avoid yet another argument, Zayn kept her phone in her pocket and did her best to ignore the constant buzzing.

By the time they came home, it was well after dinner and Zayn knew there was no way she'd be allowed to go out again, especially not if she was going to see Louis. If she was being honest with herself, Zayn didn't even really want to read Louis' texts. She had a habit of getting increasingly vulgar when Zayn ignored her and as amusing as it normally was, Zayn would much rather just go to bed.

She'd been in bed for no more than an hour when a tapping at her window woke her up. At first, Zayn thought she was dreaming and tried to ignore it. But when the tapping came back for the third time, she reluctantly pulled herself out of bed and wandered over to her window.

"For the love of..." she mumbled under her breath as she pushed her window up and stuck her head out to stare down at Louis. She was looking up at Zayn with a big grin, kicking the snow at her feet about as she waited. "You're bloody mad."

"You never answered my texts!" Louis called, careful to keep her voice down so as to not attract the attention of Zayn's parents. "What was I supposed to do?"

"How about take a hint?" Zayn replied in amusement. "I'm trying to sleep, Lou."

"Sleep is for the weak! Come down!"

"What for?"

"I'll show you when you come down."

Zayn tapped her foot against the floor, contemplating Louis' offer and trying to decide whether she wanted to abandon her bed and the sleep she so desperately desired. Louis rocked back and forth on her heels as she continued to grin up at Zayn, looking far too mischievous for Zayn's liking.

"Alright," she ceded with a sigh. "Gimme ten minutes."

"Make it five, Malik."

"Shut up." Zayn rolled her eyes as she slid her window shut, turning her back on it as she scrambled to grab her clothes from earlier in the day.

Sneaking out of her house turned out to be easier than Zayn could've imagined. Her parents and brothers had already gone to bed as well so there was no one around downstairs to see her slip through the front door. Louis had come around to the front of the house and was waiting on the doorstep, still wearing the same bright grin.

"You going to tell me where we're going?" Zayn asked, shivering slightly as she adjusted to the chilly temperature of the night air.

"Maybe," Louis taunted as she slipped her arm through Zayn's. "But it'd be so much more fun to just show you."

"You're mad," Zayn mumbled.

"You said that already." Louis laughed, eagerly pulling Zayn away from the house. "I think you'll be singing a different tune soon enough."

"We'll see."

Louis led Zayn to the other side of town, and once Zayn realized where they were going she knew exactly what Louis had in mind.

"Really, Lou?"

"What?" Louis demanded. "You've been ignoring me all day."

"So you dragged me out of bed and all the way out here to make me go sledding with you?" Zayn continued skeptically. "It's nearly midnight."

"That's the best part!" Louis said as she continued pulling Zayn up the hill. "It's just us here! We don't have to fight off the kids that are all over this hill in the daytime."

"But you love fighting off the kids," Zayn replied. Louis waved her hand at Zayn and huffed.

"Semantics. Doesn't matter." Zayn rolled her eyes.

"I still think you're mad."

"Yeah, well," Louis mumbled, "so's your face."

Even if she was reluctant to say it aloud, Zayn had to admit to herself that sledding with Louis in the middle of the night was a lot of fun. Because the hill they were on was far enough away from the surrounding neighborhoods, they could be as loud as they wanted. This, of course, meant that Louis was cursing at the top of her lungs every time she tumbled off of her sled.

Louis even jumped on the back of Zayn's sled as she passed by, causing the both of them to fall off and continue rolling down the hill until they landed in a heap at the bottom.

"You did that on purpose," Zayn groaned as she tried to push Louis off of her.

"Can't prove it," Louis grunted in return, refusing to budge from where she was. "Besides, you loved it."

"Can't prove it," Zayn parroted. Louis narrowed her eyes at Zayn and began tickling her, laughing at the way Zayn immediately started shrieking and trying to push her hands away.

When Louis finally stopped, she was lying on top of Zayn and looking down at her as they both fought to catch their breath. Zayn looked up at Louis with a shy smile, her eyes darting down to Louis' lips when she licked them.

Slowly, Louis leaned down until their lips brushed just enough to make contact. Zayn's hands tightened on Louis' waist and she pushed up into the kiss, holding Louis in place until she started to shake from the strain of holding herself up.

The two of them laughed softly as they broke apart and Zayn felt warm all over just from the spark in Louis' eyes when she looked down at her.

"You're a terrible influence," she whispered. Louis raised an eyebrow and leaned back down to nudge Zayn's nose with her own.

"Is that right?"

"Mhmm," Zayn replied before pressing another kiss to Louis' lips. "But I think I kind of like it."

"I'd hope so," Louis answered, kissing Zayn with more urgency than before. "I'd hate to get hypothermia for a girl who doesn't like me."

Zayn laughed, pulling Louis down and rolling them over in the snow so that she was on top of Louis.

"My mum's going to kill you if we get hypothermia."

"Worth it," Louis replied, pulling Zayn back down to kiss her again.


	13. Let It Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liam is very, very excited about the snow.

"Liam?" Niall called through the house as he came in through the front door. Normally Liam was waiting for him by the door on nights when Niall came home late, but tonight he was nowhere to be seen.

Niall shrugged off his coat, giving one last shiver to shake off the cold from outside before he headed further into the house. He called Liam's name again as he went from room to room, finally finding him in their bedroom.

"There you are," he said as he wrapped his arms around Liam's torso, pressing a kiss and nuzzling his nose against Liam's neck.

"Here I am," Liam replied with a smile, turning his head just enough to kiss Niall's temple but still keeping his eyes on the window before them.

"Why's the window open?" Niall asked, shivering even though Liam was blocking most of the cold air. "S'freezing out, Li."

"It's gonna snow," Liam answered. "I just know it."

"Oh, Li," Niall said with a shake of his head, softly laughing into the skin of Liam's neck. "You've been watching Gilmore Girls again, haven't you?"

"That's not the point," Liam replied as he started to laugh; the pair of them breaking out into giggles as Niall started playfully pinching Liam's sides. "Stop that!"

"Close the window!"

"Alright, alright." Liam huffed loudly as he slid the window shut. He turned around in Niall's arms and cupped Niall's face in his hands, bringing their lips together even though they were both smiling so wide they could hardly kiss at all.

"What're you doing?" Niall mumbled against Liam's lips, still giggling as Liam slowly started to push him backwards. Liam's hands slipped down from Niall's face to his shoulders, shuffling the both of them towards the bed on the other side of the room.

"You'll see," Liam replied, grinning down at Niall after he'd fallen onto his back. He trailed his hands down Niall's body, dragging his fingers across his stomach and making Niall shudder.

"Liam--" he gasped, inhaling sharply when Liam started unbuckling his belt and tugging his jeans down. Liam gave Niall a wicked smile as he leaned down to nip at his hipbone, teasing his teeth down Niall's thigh and making him squirm even more.

"Getting warm?" Liam teased, hovering over the outline of Niall's cock in his boxers. Niall whimpered softly as Liam leaned down to mouth at the head through the fabric, sinking his fingers into the flesh of Niall's thighs.

"Yeah," Niall grunted. "God, Liam, so--" He cried out when Liam pulled his boxers down and wrapped his mouth around him, immediately sucking hard just the way Niall liked it.

Liam moaned around him, keeping one hand on Niall's hip while the other wrapped around the base of his cock and started stroking him quickly. Niall was overwhelmed by the sensations; breathing hard and writhing around under Liam's touch.

"Shit, shit, _shit_ ," Niall groaned, coming much faster than he wanted to but unable to hold himself back. Liam wiped his mouth and looked up at Niall with a grin, obviously very pleased with himself.

"Want me to open the window again?" he teased. "You look a bit hot."

"Shut up," Niall growled as he grabbed the collar of Liam's shirt and hauled him up onto the bed next to him, rolling him onto his back and kissing him hungrily.

*

The following morning, Niall woke up with a shiver. He groaned as he rolled over, intending to burrow closer to Liam and steal his warmth. But as he stretched out his arm, he realized Liam's side of the bed was empty. Niall whined softly as he sat up and glanced around the room until his eyes fell on Liam, back at the window again.

"No wonder," he mumbled with a small smile. "Come back to bed, Li," he said a bit louder.

"It snowed!" Liam replied, turning around to grin at Niall. "Come look!"

"Seen one snow you've seen them all," Niall grumbled as he face-planted back into the pillows. "Come back for a cuddle."

"Ni-all," Liam sang as he crawled back onto the bed. "You love the snow."

"I love _you_ ," Niall corrected, " _you_ love the snow."

"C'mon, Niall. Please?"

Niall rolled over to see Liam stick out his bottom lip in a full pout, even going so far as to whine softly. Niall couldn't help but laugh as he pinned Liam to the bed, crawling on top of him to kiss the pout off his face.

"You're not gonna stop until I go outside, are you?"

"Nope," Liam answered with a smile. "It'll be fun, I promise!"

"Alright, alright." Niall sighed heavily. "Guess we should get dressed, then."

"Probably. Wouldn't want any of your important bits falling off from the cold."

"Definitely not," Niall answered, sneaking in one more kiss before Liam pushed him off and out of the bed.

Half an hour and several hundred kisses later, Liam was eagerly pulling Niall out the front door and into the snow. It didn't take long for them both to be covered head to toe in fresh powder, mainly because Liam was so excited that he kept tripping over his own two feet.

"Let's build a snowman," Liam said as he started gathering up the snow at his feet. Niall laughed to himself and started humming the song from Frozen as he dropped to his knees to help.

Liam gave him a look once he realized which song Niall was humming, rolling his eyes and tossing a bit of snow at him.

"Fitting, innit?" Niall asked with a grin.

"Ridiculous, more like."

"You would know."

Liam smiled before leaning forward to kiss Niall. They finished the bottom part of their snowman and began working on the middle. Or, well, Liam started working on the middle while Niall preoccupied himself with something on the ground.

By the time Liam finished both the middle and the head, Niall had compiled a small cache of snowballs that Liam didn't notice until it was far too late.

"What're you--" Liam squawked as the first of Niall's snowballs connected with his chest, catching him off guard as Niall scooped up the rest of his stash and took off across the snow-covered lawn with a cackle.

"C'mon, Liam!" Niall called as he threw another snowball.

"You cheated!" Liam yelled back as he scrambled to scoop up enough snow to start making some of his own.

Niall kept pelting Liam with snowball after snowball, and eventually Liam got fed up with trying to keep up and went after Niall using a different approach. He chased Niall around the yard until he successfully tackled him into the snow, laughing hysterically as they tumbled around.

"No, no!" Niall shouted as Liam shoved several large handfuls of snow down his jacket in retaliation. Liam smiled wickedly as he grabbed another, holding it above Niall's head in warning.

"Say 'mercy'," Liam said, still grinning.

"Mercy!" Niall shouted, laughing as Liam tossed the snow aside, but brushed his gloves off above Niall's head and still managed to cover him with a fresh layer. "You bastard."

"You love me," Liam reminded. "You said it."

"Thinking about taking it back," Niall said with a violent shudder. "M'bloody freezing."

"I can fix that," Liam said as he leaned down and kissed Niall. He pinned him against the snow, covering Niall's body with his own and making him whine softly.

"Y'know there's still a ton of snow in my jacket, yeah?"

"Oops," Liam whispered with a giggle. "Might've forgotten."

"You--" Niall groaned. "You're the one who put it there!"

"You hit me with snowballs! Lots of them!"

"That I did," Niall replied proudly. "Serves you right."

"Is that right?" Liam said, quirking his eyebrow at Niall in a mischievous way. In one swift movement, he grabbed some more snow and this time, shoved his hand down the front of Niall's trousers.

Niall howled, quickly pushing Liam off of him and getting to his feet as fast as he could to shake the snow out of his trousers. Liam rolled onto his back in the snow and couldn't stop laughing, even when Niall glared at him.

"You're such an arsehole," Niall snapped. Liam would've thought that Niall was actually cross with him if not for the fact that he could hardly keep from smiling.

"You love me," Liam repeated. Niall sighed loudly as he straddled Liam's hips, poking Liam in the nose and sprinkling a bit of snow on his face.

"I do," he whispered. "M'a bit cold though, can we go inside?"

"S'pose we could," Liam said with an overdramatic sigh. "Ought to warm you up, yeah?"

"You'd better," Niall replied, grinning as he leaned down to kiss Liam.

"Well c'mon, then." Liam gently pushed Niall off of him and got to his feet. "I've got an idea of how to do just that."

"Can't wait." Niall quickly followed Liam back towards the house, eagerly brushing all the snow off of his clothes as they went.

He hoped that Liam's idea was akin to what had happened the previous night, because Niall couldn't think of anything he loved more than being curled up in bed with Liam on cold nights, keeping each other warm with kisses and touches that set Niall's skin on fire.


	14. Got My Love to Keep Me Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis hates being sick, but being sick on Christmas is the absolute worst.

Louis had been looking forward to this night for weeks. He'd planned every little thing he could for it, desperately wanting it to go well. It was the first time that all of their parents were going to meet, and absolutely _nothing_ could go wrong.

To say that they were all afraid of what could happen if even the tiniest detail went awry was an understatement. It was hard enough to explain their relationship to their parents individually; getting them all under the same roof for one night was downright terrifying.

There was no doubt about it that they were all stressed out, but Louis was taking it the hardest. He'd given himself far too many tasks to complete on his own, even though Niall and Zayn kept telling him he didn't have to.

The fact that Louis started feeling ill the night before was of no surprise to Niall and Zayn, but when he woke up the following morning and was barely able to get out of bed, they were all a bit panicked.

"I'm fine," Louis croaked as he tried to sit up in bed.

"You're not," Zayn replied as he forcefully pushed Louis back down. It didn't take that much to do so, but Louis still glared at Zayn all the same.

"I can't be sick," he groaned. "I don't have _time_ to be sick."

"Maybe we should cancel," Niall offered as he curled up next to Louis, tucking him under his arm and pressing a kiss to his feverish forehead.

"No," Louis replied firmly, though it was offset by a rather worrisome cough. "We're _not_ cancelling."

"Our mums will understand," Zayn said with a sigh. "You know your mum would want you to get better."

"No," Louis replied with a whine. "This is too important to cancel."

"Well then," Niall said as he gently shook Louis, "looks like Zayn and I have quite a few things to do today."

"I--"

"Ah, no." Niall put his hand over Louis' mouth and smiled even as Louis rolled his eyes. "You're going to stay in bed."

"What he can do," Zayn started as he got to his feet and grabbed a notepad and pen, "is make a list of all the things he was going to make _himself_ do today and we can divide it up between the two of us." He handed the notepad to Louis, leaning forward to press his lips against Louis' forehead.

Louis groaned softly and let his head fall back onto Niall's shoulder, whimpering pathetically as the other two laughed.

"C'mon," Niall said as he pulled away from Louis and reached out to grab Zayn's hand. "Let's go make some tea for Lou while he makes us our list."

"Oh, I see," Louis replied grumpily, "abandoning me in my time of need!"

"Yes, abandoning you to make you tea," Zayn said with a sigh. "Twat," he added fondly.

Louis huffed loudly, causing himself to cough rather violently and burrow under the covers with a groan. He reluctantly made the list like Niall and Zayn asked, ending up completing it in excruciating detail along with sidebar notes of what he'd do if they screwed anything up.

Niall and Zayn read it over carefully when they brought him his tea, quietly talking amongst themselves as Louis watched with suspicious eyes and slowly sipped his tea. Of course, they'd made it exactly to his liking and his heart swelled at the realization. He smiled down at his cup fondly until he realized that Niall and Zayn were staring at him.

"What?"

"There are a lot of worrisome threats in the margins," Zayn replied in amusement.

"Everything has to be perfect," Louis reasoned with a frown. "This _has_ to go well."

"And it will," Niall promised. "Everything is going to be fine."

"Not fine, _perfect_ ," Louis corrected. Niall rolled his eyes but crawled onto the bed towards Louis with a smile. He pulled Louis against him just like before and laughed softly as he took Louis' cup and placed it on the bedside table.

"Yes, Lou. Perfect."

"You're gonna get sick too," Zayn said as he leaned against the doorway. "And if you two both get sick then _I'm_ going to get sick."

"You're a right bastard when you're sick," Louis grumbled.

"Look who's talking," Zayn replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Shut it, the both of you." Niall kissed Louis' forehead. "Time for you to get some rest, Lou. Zayn and I will take care of everything."

Louis groaned loudly, trying to grab onto Niall and keep him in bed but he was too weak to actually keep Niall from leaving. Niall laughed loudly as he tugged Zayn out of the room, leaving Louis all alone in the bedroom.

He whined as he buried his head against the pillows and tugged the covers over his head. It didn't take long for Louis to fall back asleep, and before he knew it several hours had passed and he woke up slightly groggy.

"Niall…" he croaked out, clearing his throat and wincing before he tried again, "Zayn?"

There was no possible way that either of them could've heard him given that his voice was coming out at just above a whisper. Louis groaned as he reached across the bed for his tea, groaning even more when he realized it had long since gone cold.

Feeling more petulant than ever, Louis rolled over to the other side of the bed to grab his phone off of the opposite table and sent a text to Niall.

_Need more tea :(_

No more than thirty seconds later - giving him just enough time to roll onto his back and sink under the covers again - Niall sent a text back.

_I'll be up in 10_

Louis whimpered as he typed out _nooooo need it nowwww!_

He could hear Niall's cackle all the way from the kitchen and his response shortly followed.

_I can't make the water boil any faster!_

Louis huffed, grimacing at how sore his throat felt but not willing to stoop so low as to drink cold tea. Instead he wrapped himself up in the duvet and slid off the bed, slowly shuffling out of the room. He was very proud of himself when he managed to make it down the stairs without falling on his arse, but found that he was ridiculously tired when he reached the bottom.

It was there that Niall found him several minutes later, curled up at the foot of the stairs in the duvet and whimpering softly. Niall sighed fondly as he got down to Louis' level and lifted up the corner of the duvet that was covering Louis' head.

"Comfortable?" he asked. Louis moaned pathetically in response, making Niall laugh.

"Don't mock me," Louis grumbled. "I'm dying."

"I brought tea," Niall said as he held out the cup to Louis. "C'mon."

"Can't," Louis whined. "Dying."

"You're not dying," Niall replied. "Even if you were dying, you never turn down tea."

Louis reluctantly sat up, clutching his head as he righted himself and leaned back against the stairs. Niall helped him to grip the cup, making sure he brought it up to his lips and didn't end up spilling the hot liquid down the front of his shirt.

Niall waited as Louis slowly drank his tea, smiling fondly at him and making Louis feel even more flushed than he already was. In order to get Niall to stop just _staring_ at him, he leaned forward until he was curled against Niall's chest with his tea in hand.

"Feeling any better?" Niall asked as he gently scratched his fingers against Louis' scalp.

"Little," Louis replied. "Did you set the table yet?"

"Yes," Niall said with a soft laugh. "Zayn's out right now getting the last minute ingredients for dinner tonight."

"It has to be--"

"Perfect, we know." Niall kissed the top of Louis' head. "D'you wanna see what we've done so far?"

"Do I have to get up?" Louis asked, tilting his head back to look up at Niall.

"Finish your tea." Niall gently pushed the cup up towards Louis' mouth, tilting it up to help him drink from it.

"There," Louis said triumphantly when he'd finally finished, pushing the cup into Niall's hands as he leaned against his chest. "Back to sleep," he mumbled.

"You can nap in a minute," Niall said as he gently put Louis' empty cup down. "First I wanna show you."

Louis groaned loudly, letting out a surprised squawk when Niall bundled him up in his arms bridal-style and carried him through the house towards the dining room. Louis was rendered speechless when he saw all the hard work that his two boys had put into the decorations for the dinner they were hosting, and he clung to Niall tighter as he glanced around.

"It's perfect," he murmured.

"'Course it is," Niall replied proudly, "it's all because of you."

"I didn't do anything, all I did was get sick," Louis said with a groan. "Stupid me."

"Hey," NIall said as he nudged Louis, gently knocking their heads together. "This was all your idea. Zayn and I know how important Christmas is to you, and getting our families together for Christmas dinner was a brilliant idea."

"Niall," Louis whined softly, hating the way he could feel his cheeks burn from Niall's words.

"S'true." Niall whipped around, making Louis squawk again and hold on for dear life as they rounded on Zayn who had come in so silently that neither had heard him. He smiled at the pair as he came forward, kissing Louis' temple then Niall's forehead. "It's going to be perfect."

Louis hummed softly as Zayn pressed in against his other side, making him feel warm and safe between his two favorite boys. He laughed softly as a thought crossed his mind, making Zayn nudge his cheek with his nose.

"What's so funny?"

"Guess you don't care about getting sick after all, hmm?" Louis replied, turning his head to smile at Zayn. He rolled his eyes in response and pressed their heads together again.

"S'pose not. It's bound to happen anyway."

"Alright, lovebirds," Niall said as he adjusted his grip on Louis. "Somebody's got a dinner to cook, yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah," Zayn replied. "M'on it."

Zayn kissed Louis' forehead one more time before he left the room, and Louis went back to leaning against Niall.

"Do you wanna go back upstairs?" Niall whispered softly. Louis shook his head, clinging to the fabric of Niall's t-shirt tighter.

"Wanna stay down here," he replied. "With you."

"Alright," Niall replied with a fond smile. "Off to the kitchen, then. We'll get you some more tea."

Niall ended up making a soft nest of pillows from the living room for Louis on the floor of the kitchen, making sure he could still see everything that he and Zayn were doing. Louis curled up comfortably with a cup of tea sat next to him, silently watching his boys start making what was sure to be a delicious dinner.

"Love you," he mumbled softly as his eyes began to droop. Despite the low tone of his voice, Zayn and Niall still heard him loud and clear.

"Love you too, Lou."


	15. Won't Be Home for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas at Hogwarts is even more magical than usual.

Niall had always thought Christmas was a magical time, even before he'd discovered that magic was actually real. Being accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry after his 11th birthday had been absolutely unbelievable, but it gave Niall a whole new outlook on life even at his young age.

It was now his last year at Hogwarts, and only a few days remained until the castle would be empty for the holidays. Niall was looking forward to going home, but he was a little sad when he thought of the fact that when he came back it would be for the last time.

His two best friends, Harry and Liam, were also in their last year. They didn't seem to be as upset about the idea of only having half a year left at Hogwarts - or perhaps they were just better at hiding it.

The morning before they were due to travel back to London on the Hogwarts Express, Liam got an owl that changed everything. Niall had been busy stuffing his face with breakfast so he didn't notice the change in Liam's demeanor, so Harry took it upon himself to ask Liam what was wrong.

"It's nothing," Liam mumbled.

"It's not nothing," Harry replied as he put his arm around Liam's shoulders. "C'mon, Li."

"There's just...been a change of plans." Liam crumpled up the letter that had come for him, stuffing it into the pocket of his robes as he turned his attention back to his breakfast. "M'not going home for the holidays."

"What?" Harry asked, giving Liam a confused look. "What do you mean, you're not going home?"

Liam shrugged his shoulders, closing himself off and obviously not wanting to talk about the subject any further. Harry looked at Niall pointedly, tugging his plate away from him with such force that Niall actually _lunged_ for it. When Harry finally caught his eye and nodded his head towards Liam, Niall realized that he'd missed something.

"What happened?" he asked, his mouth still full of food. Harry huffed in mild annoyance and opened his mouth to explain, but Liam got up so suddenly that Harry forgot what he was going to say.

"M'not hungry," Liam mumbled before he quickly left the table, practically running out of the Great Hall as fast as he could.

"What happened?" Niall repeated, cautiously watching Harry as he started to eat again.

"Liam can't go home for Christmas," Harry answered with a frown, "and he won't say why."

"That's rubbish," Niall replied. "But staying at the castle isn't so bad."

"How would you know?" Harry asked. "You always go home."

"Well, so do you." Niall shrugged. "But I've heard it's quite fun. There's a massive feast and you can just wander around the castle and grounds, and--"

"That's it!" Harry interrupted, grinning widely.

"What's it?" Niall asked, blinking and trying to remember what he'd said.

"We'll stay too. So Liam's not all on his own!"

"But--" Niall blinked again. "We've already got our tickets home."

"Niall," Harry sighed, "where's your sense of solidarity?"

"But--" Niall started, but given the look in Harry's eyes he knew his chances of changing his mind were slim to none. "Oh, alright. We'll go to the Owlery after breakfast."

"Excellent," Harry replied triumphantly.

"Bloody menace," Niall mumbled under his breath, smiling as he went about finishing the rest of his breakfast.

*

Harry and Niall didn't see Liam again until after they'd both sent owls home to let their families know they were going to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. Harry didn't seem to think that his mum would have any problems with it, but Niall was slightly skeptical.

"Just you wait, me mum will send a Howler for sure."

"Don't be so dramatic, Niall." Harry rolled his eyes. "Your mum will understand, it's for a good cause."

"Yeah, if you say so. We don't even know why Liam isn't going home."

"Well let's go find out, then." Harry smiled at Niall, who slung his arm around Harry's shoulder as they started on their way back to the Gryffindor common room.

The common room was still full of students, all chatting excitedly about their plans for the holidays. Niall spotted Liam in the corner on the far side of the room, curled up in one of the armchairs on his own. Harry and Niall approached him from either side, careful to not make him flee as they sat down on either arm.

"Hi Liam," Harry said as he laid his head on Liam's shoulder.

"Guess what," Niall added, gently prodding Liam's shoulder.

"What?" Liam replied, his tone slightly suspicious as he looked back and forth between his two best friends.

"Niall and I decided we're staying here with you."

"Here...on this chair?" Liam asked, his tone changing from suspicious to confused. Harry and Niall laughed, making Liam flush.

"No! For the holidays."

"What? You...you don't have to--"

"Already done, Li." Niall grinned. "You're stuck with us."

"But, your mums--"

"They'll understand," Harry replied. "We can't leave you here all by yourself."

Liam started to protest again but thought better of it and let out a soft breath. He hugged both of them in turn, biting his lip to keep from saying something stupid.

"Thanks," he mumbled softly.

"Of course," Niall said as he knocked his fist against Liam's jaw with a fond smile. "What kind of friends would we be if we left you all alone on Christmas?"

*

The days leading up to Christmas passed in a blur, and before Liam knew it he was waking up on Christmas morning to both Harry and Niall jumping onto his tiny bed. It was strange to wake up on Christmas morning and not be home in his own bed, but looking at the excited faces of Harry and Niall made the ache in his heart easier to deal with.

After the three of them had exchanged gifts - loads upon loads of goodies from Honeydukes mostly, though it was a wonder that Niall hadn't eaten them all before Harry and Liam got to unwrap them - they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Only a few other students had stayed in the castle for the holidays, but the staff were more than enough to keep their spirits up with the merriment of the day.

It wasn't until later that night when Liam and Niall were sitting by the fire - Harry had gone up to the dormitory to grab his set of Exploding Snap cards - that Niall mustered up the courage to ask Liam the same questions that Harry had a few days before.

"Why couldn't you go home for Christmas?"

Liam let out a long breath as he stared into the fire, avoiding Niall's eye as he decided how to answer his question.

"Me mum and dad have been having some problems, I think." He sighed again, rubbing at his eyes and hoping he could keep from crying. "It was me mum who said I should stay here; she was going to her mum's for Christmas anyway."

"M'sorry, Li." Niall frowned, crawling out of his chair and crossing the floor between them to squish onto Liam's chair with him and pull him into a hug. "That's rubbish."

"Yeah," Liam replied with a shaky laugh. "Dunno what I'll do when the term's really over."

"We can all move to London together, yeah?" Niall said with a grin, nudging Liam until he laughed.

"Yeah, maybe. Dunno if I could handle living with you two."

"You live with us already! It'll be great!"

"What'll be great?" Harry asked, having just come back from the dormitory.

"Living in London with me and Liam," Niall answered with a grin. Harry's face lit up and he eagerly climbed onto Liam's lap, even though the chair was most certainly not big enough for all three of them.

"That's a great idea!" Harry immediately started listing off the possibilities for where they could look for a place to live, while Liam laughed to himself as Niall added in his opinions even though he'd only been to London a handful of times.

In just those few short minutes, Liam had forgotten all about the reason why they'd all stayed at Hogwarts that year. Even if things with his family might not have been the best, it didn't really matter. He didn't have to dwell on it right now; not when he had the two best friends in the world who would do anything just to make him happy.


	16. Wrap My Heart Up for Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Louis really shouldn't leave his shopping until the last minute.

Louis knew that waiting until the last minute to buy his little brother a Christmas present was quite possibly the stupidest thing he'd done in a while, but it's wasn't like he meant to do so. He'd gotten busy over the last few weeks and time had just gotten away from him.

Which is why he was currently dragging his best friend Zayn to Toys R Us with him, three days before Christmas.

"Why did I have to come?" Zayn whined with a long groan. "You know how I feel about shopping this close to Christmas."

"Because I'll need someone to distract the mums while I find the perfect gift," Louis reasoned. "One look at your cheekbones and they'll forget all about whatever toy they're fighting over."

"Thanks," Zayn replied flatly. "Glad to know you value our friendship so highly."

"Don't be ridiculous," Louis said as he threw his arm around Zayn's neck. "You know I love you for more than just your cheekbones."

Zayn raised an eyebrow and Louis grinned.

"Why do I feel like I don't want to know what's going on in that head of yours?" Zayn asked.

"Dunno, but that's probably a good thing."

The Toys R Us was even more crowded than Louis had originally thought it was going to be, and he didn't even have to look back at Zayn to know he was already scowling at him. He pointedly ignored the loud huffs and annoyed sighs coming from Zayn as he followed him through the aisles searching for the perfect gift.

Louis had never had this much trouble finding a present for his sisters; he'd always just bought them dolls or a stuffed animal. Somehow picking out something for his new little brother was far more difficult than he'd thought it would be.

"What about this?" Zayn said, plucking a Lego set from one of the shelves. "Legos are great."

"He's barely a year old, Zayn." Louis grabbed the box from Zayn's hand and put it back on the shelf. "Those are a choking hazard!"

"Then get him a teddy bear or something," Zayn said with a sigh, "it's not like he'll even remember."

"How very dare you!" Louis replied, scandalized by the mere thought. "This is important!"

"Well, then," Zayn sighed again as he looked around, "what about that?"

He pointed towards the end of the aisle where one lone Spider-man action figure sat in its box. Louis' face lit up and he ruffled Zayn's hair and smacked a sloppy kiss against his cheek - quickly dodging Zayn's right hook aimed at his jaw - before he raced forward to grab it. Of course, just as he did, another hand from the other side grabbed it as well.

"Excuse me," Louis said as he tugged on the box, "I had it first."

"Don't think so, mate." Louis glared at the boy standing before him, a bright-eyed blonde boy with a big smile and surprisingly tight grip on the toy.

"Hands off, _mate_ ," Louis snapped.

"Absolutely not," he replied with a laugh. "Me nephew's been begging me for one of these for weeks."

"Well, you shouldn't have waited for the last minute, then."

"And what are you doing?" he asked as he pulled the box towards him and away from Louis.

"Buying _this_ present for my little brother!" Louis replied, pulling the toy back. The boy laughed again, stepping closer to Louis but still keeping a tight grip on the box.

"Think you're going to have to pick something else. _This_ is coming home with me."

"I'll tell you what you can take home--"

Louis was cut off by the boy leaning forward and kissing him, throwing him off just enough that his grip loosened from the box. The boy grinned triumphantly when he pulled away from Louis, waggling the box in front of him for a moment before he disappeared into the crowd.

Louis stood frozen for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell had just happened when Zayn came up behind him and hooked his arm around his neck.

"Who was that?" he asked with a teasing smile.

"No idea," Louis replied. "But he stole Spider-man."

"Wanker," Zayn said with a laugh. "Looks like we'll have to find something else."

Louis and Zayn didn't end up leaving that Toys R Us until nearly half an hour later, only after Louis had reluctantly agreed to just getting his new baby brother a teddy bear. Of course, he took every opportunity to bitch and moan about it - even when they were still in the store - but deep down he knew his mum would just be glad Louis bought _something_. It was the thought that counted, anyway.

What Louis didn't expect was to see the blonde boy who had stolen the Spider-man action figure from him waiting around outside of the store with a sheepish look on his face.

"I'll...meet you at the car," Zayn muttered with a grin, elbowing Louis until he started walking towards the boy.

"Find something?" he asked, grinning at Louis and eyeing the bag in his hand.

"Eventually," Louis replied with a huff. "Not as good as Spider-man, y'know."

"Should've been quicker."

"You cheated!" The boy shrugged, still grinning smugly.

"Can't prove it."

"Can too," Louis replied without thinking, immediately going red when he realized what he'd said. "I mean-- I…"

"Is that so?" The boy stepped forward and reached out towards Louis, curling his fingers around the belt on his coat and pulling him closer. "Think you should."

"I can, and I will," Louis replied, his confidence gaining once more as he leaned forward to kiss the boy for the second time that night.

He pulled away only when he felt a hand in his coat pocket, and he grabbed the boy's wrist.

"What d'you think you're doing?" he asked curiously.

"Think of it as a consolation prize," the boy replied, pecking Louis' lips once more before pulling his wrist out of his grasp and turning to walk away. Louis watched him for a moment before sticking his hand into his own pocket and pulling out what the boy had left there.

Inside his hand was a scrap of paper with the boy's name - Niall - and a phone number. Louis couldn't keep the grin off of his face as he quickly pulled out his phone and sent Niall a text.

_You think this is enough to make up for you stealing Spider-man?_

Louis turned towards the carpark and started making his way to Zayn when his phone buzzed and he read Niall's reply.

_It's a start, isn't it? :)_


	17. The Most Wonderful Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zayn and Harry surprise Liam with a trip to Disneyland for Christmas.

Zayn would never forget the look on Liam's face when he and Harry surprised her with the tickets. She looked at them in confusion for about twenty seconds before she realized what they were for and then her face lit up like he'd never seen before.

"Are these real?" she asked, making both him and Harry laugh aloud.

"Of course they're real!" Harry replied.

"We wouldn't get you fake tickets to Disney, Li," Zayn assured her.

Without another word, Liam threw her arms around both of them and squealed loudly as she hugged them. Harry and Zayn's eyes met behind her back and they couldn't help but fist-bump for a job well done. They'd gotten her the perfect Christmas present.

They'd been saving up for it for weeks; planning every tiny detail of the trip they were taking down to Disneyland and trying ridiculously hard not to spill the beans to Liam. She never suspected a thing - which was incredible - but Zayn had been more worried about Harry accidentally letting it slip than Liam poking around until she found it out.

"When are we leaving?"

"Tomorrow," Harry replied proudly. "We're all packed and everything."

"Me too?" Liam asked curiously, her gaze flickering between the two.

"Of course," Zayn answered. "We've got this under control."

Liam squealed again, pulling them in for another hug as she tried to contain herself and not jump up and down like an over-excited child. Zayn couldn't stop smiling at her, nor could Harry. Part of Zayn wanted to leave for Anaheim right that second, just to keep Liam smiling.

But, they had a plan. It was going to be a long drive down the California coast until they reached Disneyland, and Zayn was already itching to leave.

"You two are too good to me," Liam murmured later that night when they were all curled up in bed. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

"Shut up," Harry whispered as he nestled in close to Liam, brushing his lips against the back of her neck. "You're wonderful, don't ever forget that."

"We're lucky to have you," Zayn added as he gently stroked Liam's cheek. He could see the flush in her cheeks even in the dark and she turned her head further into the pillow to hide her smile. "Get some sleep, okay?"

"I'll try," she promised.

*

Seven hours in the car for the three of them was far more exhausting than they'd thought it would be, but as tired as they were when they pulled into the parking lot of their hotel in Anaheim, Liam was practically bouncing out of her seat just to get to their room.

"Calm down," Zayn said with a laugh as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "We've only just arrived.

"I know, I know." Liam let out a sheepish laugh. "I'm just so excited."

"Leave her alone," Harry called from the reception desk. "It's cute."

"Adorable," Zayn murmured, pressing his lips against Liam's cheek. She turned her head to meet him, giving him a quick kiss before slipping out of his arms and running over to Harry.

Zayn shook his head as he looked at the pair of them, each one scrambling for the keys to their room and ending up knocking the plastic cards to the floor. They dissolved into a fit of laughter immediately, drawing the attention of practically everyone in the lobby.

The best part was that Zayn didn't care. His heart was too full of joy to even stop for one second to think about all the odd looks they were receiving from all the other people standing around. He corralled Harry and Liam towards the elevators as best he could, finding himself giggling under his breath as they continued talking excitedly about their plans for the following day.

*

Even with the exhaustion from the long trip the previous day, Liam woke up obscenely early the next morning and absolutely would not let either Harry or Zayn sleep in.

"The park doesn't even open until eight," Zayn replied in a groggy mumble as he tried to bury his face into the pillows again.

"That'll give us just enough time for you lazy bums to get out of bed and get some breakfast!" Liam said as she whipped the covers back without warning, smiling widely as both Zayn and Harry groaned in protest.

"Give those back," Harry whined as he tried to grab the covers back from Liam.

"No, it's time to get up!" she replied, tugging the covers clean off the bed. Harry went for her wrists instead and pulled her back onto the bed and in-between them, grinning sleepily as she squawked and tried to get loose.

"You're trapped now," Zayn mumbled, having rolled over to pin her down onto the bed. "Can't go anywhere."

"Zayn," she whined, "Harry, c'mon. I want to _go_!"

"Ten more minutes," Harry begged. "Then we'll get up, promise."

"Fine," Liam huffed. "But I'm timing you."

"Of course," Zayn replied as he nuzzled his nose against Liam's neck, making himself comfortable even as she squirmed.

"Tickles," she said with a giggle.

Ten minutes came and went without any of them getting up from the bed. After twenty minutes had passed, Liam let out a long sigh and pinched the both of them in turn.

"That's long enough!" Both Harry and Zayn groaned but they knew they couldn't hold her off any longer.

If they did, there was a decent chance she'd try getting them up in some other way, probably using ice cold water. That was definitely an event that neither of them wanted to relive.

"Alright, alright, we're up," Harry said with a loud yawn as he stretched. Liam stood at the foot of the bed with her arms crossed, tapping her foot as loud as she could as she waited for them to get up.

If Zayn had thought Liam was excited the day before, it was _nothing_ compared to what she was like when they actually reached Disneyland. Even when they reached just the parking lot, she was so excited she could hardly talk without squealing.

"I love seeing her this happy," Harry whispered to Zayn as they boarded the bus to the park.

"Me too," Zayn replied with a smile. "Worth every penny."

Liam practically sprinted to the line to scan her ticket, making it slightly difficult for Harry and Zayn to keep up with her. But she came to a full stop when she reached the entrance, gazing up at the gates with wide eyes.

Obviously she'd known that the park was going to be decorated for Christmas, but she just had no idea how elaborate all of the decorations were going to be. Quite frankly, she was rendered speechless by the sight and had no choice but to stop dead in her tracks and just _look_.

"You alright, Li?" Zayn asked as he and Harry came up on either side of her, gently putting his hand on the small of her back.

"Yeah," she replied, turning to him with a smile. "It's just...so beautiful."

"C'mon, then," Harry said as he took one of her hands, waiting for Zayn to take the other. "Can't keep Mickey waiting, can we?"

*

By the end of the day, the three of them were absolutely exhausted. Liam was deliriously happy, but it seemed as though her excitement had finally worn off to the point where she was no longer dragging Harry and Zayn along at lightning speeds to every single attraction.

They were slowly making their way towards Main Street, USA to watch the fireworks over Cinderella's castle, mindful of the growing crowd and not wanting to lose each other in it. After they'd found a good spot with a great view of the castle, Liam sat down on the ground and let out a long breath.

"Still good?" Harry asked as he sat down beside her.

"Perfect," Liam answered happily. "Today was absolutely perfect."

"Glad to hear it," Zayn replied as he sat down on her other side.

"One hundred percent worth it," Harry added as he scooted closer to Liam, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Thank you," she whispered before cupping Harry's cheek and giving him a slow, sweet kiss. She turned to Zayn and repeated her words before doing the same, smiling bashfully when she pulled away.

Zayn wrapped his arm around Liam's waist, draping it over Harry's and pulling them as close to him as he could. He was absolutely positive that he'd never felt better than he did in that moment: sitting in the "happiest place on Earth" with the two most important people in his life.

Even if no other day would ever even come close to being as perfect as that one was, it didn't matter. They would always have the memories of being in Disneyland around Christmastime, and Zayn would never, ever forget how deliriously happy he and Harry had made Liam.


	18. Christmas at Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick's just a tiny bit nervous about going home with Harry for the holidays.

It didn't matter how many times a day Harry told Nick how much his family was going to absolutely love him, Nick was still petrified of going to Harry's mum's house for the holidays. He'd been dreading it ever since Harry had first brought it up, even though he'd immediately said yes.

As if meeting parents wasn't stressful enough, Harry had to go and bring it up during the bloody holidays and make it that much more stressful! Nick was at his wit's end about what to buy for presents, and Harry was being absolutely no help at all.

"She'll love whatever you get her, I'm telling you."

"That's--" Nick groaned loudly. "That's absolutely not the point."

Harry laughed fondly but gave Nick no further information which made him even more frustrated.

"I want to make a good impression," Nick whined, feeling ridiculously petulant as he crossed his arms. "I _have_ to."

"You're being ridiculous," Harry replied as he stepped into Nick's space, crowding him against the counter in the kitchen of their tiny flat. "She's more excited to finally meet you than she is to get a gift for Christmas."

"You're not helping," Nick grumbled as he pressed his forehead against Harry's. "Tell me again why I'm so in love with you?"

"Because," Harry said with a laugh as he tightened his grip around Nick's waist. "That's why."

"You're absolutely infuriating." Harry beamed widely before pressing his lips against Nick's; his smile so contagious that Nick couldn't help but do the same.

"You love me," Harry whispered.

Nick rolled his eyes, covering Harry's mouth with his own again to keep him from saying anything else. They hadn't been saying "I love you" for very long - a few weeks at the most - but ever since the words first left his mouth, Harry hardly ever wanted to hear anything else.

"Yes," Nick replied with a soft huff when he pulled away, "dunno why, you're absolutely dreadful."

"Am not," Harry replied as he stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. "I'm lovely and you adore me."

"I'd adore you more if you weren't being a tit and would help me pick out a present for your mum already."

"I would've thought you bought her a present already," Harry said with a laugh, "what with how often you two talk."

"Because you never answer your phone!" Nick laughed. "If she didn't have my number, she'd never hear from you at all."

"Not true," Harry retorted, though he was trying so hard not to laugh that he didn't come across nearly as defiant as he had wanted to. "If it's anyone's fault, it's yours. You're always distracting me."

"That's a filthy lie," Nick said with an astonished gasp. "I've got no idea what you're on about."

"Mhm," Harry replied with a smirk. "I'm sure."

"Shut up." Nick pinched Harry's side, grinning when Harry squirmed away from his touch.

*

The following day Nick decided that he didn't _need_ Harry's help when it came to selecting a present for his mum and stepdad; he could do it all on his own, thank you very much.

However, he did not anticipate just how insanely busy Harrods was going to be - even though it was barely a week before Christmas so absolutely everywhere in London was completely packed with people in his same situation trying to figure out last-minute gifts for their loved ones. By the time he'd made it to the food and wine section, Nick was practically hysterical.

He'd sworn to himself that he wasn't going to call Harry. He _could_ do this on his own, he just needed to pull himself together and get a grip. Buying presents for his own mum and dad was never this difficult, why did buying something simple have to be so damned hard?

His resolve wore down in a matter of seconds and he found himself calling Harry, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth as he anxiously awaited Harry to pick up.

"Hiya, Nick."

"Did you know that there's a wreath praline box available for one hundred and ninety-five pounds? Who spends that much on bloody pralines?!"

"M'sure they're lovely pralines," Harry answered with a laugh, "but that is a bit ridiculous."

"There's also a sweetheart tea set for fifty pounds! It only comes with two tins! I could go down to Waitrose and get fifty tins for fifty pounds, easy!"

"What are you doing looking at tea?"

"I'm not looking at tea, I'm trying to find your mum a present."

Harry's laughter grew even louder at that and Nick huffed into the phone so loudly that a pair of old ladies near him actually turned towards him to see what was happening. He quickly turned his back on them and hoped they'd just go about their business.

"M'glad you find this so amusing, Harold. I'm about two steps away from killing myself with this cheese and butter knife set that costs--" Nick paused to check the price tag, groaning when he read it, "--bloody hell, ninety-five pounds, are they joking?"

"Where are you?" Harry asked, still laughing and just making Nick even more anxious.

"At bloody Harrods, of all places," he answered grumpily. "Dunno why, it's not like I can afford anything here anyway."

"Just stay there, yeah?" Harry said with a soft, fond sigh. "I'll be there in a bit, alright?"

"Alright," Nick replied, trying not to sound too mopey. The stress of all this was really dampening his Christmas spirit.

By the time Harry arrived at Harrods over half an hour later, Nick was sitting in the cafe in the lower ground floor with a cappuccino that had long since gone cold. Harry kissed the top of his head before settling down in the chair across from Nick, giving him a sympathetic smile.

"My poor, poor Grimmy."

"Shut up," Nick grumbled. "I just wanted to find something nice."

"I told you, my mum will love whatever you get." Nick groaned loudly and laid his head down on the table between them, whimpering as Harry started to run his fingers through his hair.

"I saw some chocolates," Nick mumbled, his cheek still pressed against the table. "Your mum likes chocolate, right?"

"Everyone likes chocolate," Harry replied with a soft laugh. "Unless they're allergic."

Twenty minutes later, Nick and Harry were walking out of Harrods hand in hand with a bag hooked on Nick's other arm. The two of them had picked out a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine, even though Nick kept saying that the paired together was the most cliché present he could think of.

"Doesn't matter," Harry reminded him. "They'll love you no matter what."

"If you say so," Nick replied with a sigh. Harry squeezed Nick's hand tightly, bringing it up to his lips so he could kiss Nick's knuckles.

"I do say so."

*

"We're going to be late."

"No, we're not."

"Yes, we are and it's all my fault."

"Nick, we're not going to be late."

"We should've been there by now!" Nick whined, anxiously tapping his fingers on the dashboard as he leaned forward in the passenger seat. "Never should've stopped for flowers."

"Nick," Harry said with a sigh, "it's a lovely idea and my mum's going to love you even more for it."

"Not if we're late," Nick mumbled.

"We're not going to be late," Harry replied as he reached over the console to squeeze Nick's knee. "Well, not _that_ late."

"Not helping, Harold."

Harry beamed widely, letting out a pleased noise when the traffic light finally switched to green and he pulled forward. Not ten minutes later, they were parked in front of his mum's house and Nick was positively shaking from nerves. Though, if anyone asked, he was absolutely going to blame it on the weather.

Just like Harry had promised, his family absolutely loved Nick. His nerves practically melted away the second he stepped through the door and was welcomed with open arms. Quite literally, considering Anne pulled Nick into a hug as soon as she saw him.

Every time Nick looked at Harry, he was smiling smugly back at him. All Nick wanted to do was to take Harry somewhere they could be alone and kiss that stupid smirk off his face, but every minute of the night was spent with his family. Even so, Nick wouldn't have traded a minute of it.

Once dinner was over, Nick immediately offered to clear the table. He stood up and began gathering the plates, blushing when Anne started gushing over him. Even Gemma nudged Harry with her elbow and grinned.

"Good catch, Haz. Keep this one around."

Nick blushed even harder, disappearing into the kitchen as quickly as he could. Harry followed him in, wrapping his arms around Nick's waist as soon as he'd put the plates down.

"Still nervous?" Harry murmured, smiling against the back of Nick's neck. Nick laughed as he turned around in Harry's arms.

"No," he replied through a smile. He leaned down to kiss Harry, pulling away when Harry's grip on his waist tightened.

"What?"

"I might be a bit nervous about your mum walking in on us snogging in her kitchen," Nick admitted, making Harry laugh.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Harry mumbled as he leaned forward to kiss him again.

"Excuse me?" Nick stared at Harry, who immediately turned red.

"Not me!" he said quickly. "Gemma, I swear!"

"Uh-huh," Nick replied with a smirk. "Trying to cover up all the other boys you've been snogging in your mum's kitchen?"

"Shut up," Harry muttered. "You're the only boy I want to snog in my mum's kitchen."

Nick shook his head, smiling fondly at Harry as he pressed their lips together again. They did end up being interrupted, but by Gemma instead of Anne.

"Oi, get a room!" she hollered, cackling as Harry threw a tea towel at her. "I'm telling Mum!"

Harry threw another towel at her, laughing as Nick buried his head against his shoulder. Harry kissed his cheek, coaxing him to show his face again after Gemma had ducked out of the kitchen.

"It's not Christmas at home until you've been caught snogging in the kitchen," Harry said in Nick's ear, making him laugh. He lifted his head off Harry's shoulder and smiled.

"I love you."

"Love you too," Harry replied, catching his lips with a kiss. "Now, c'mon, we've got some dishes to do."


	19. A Sugar World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry needs a little help keeping Niall occupied.

Niall burst in through the door with Louis trailing close behind, startling Harry so much that he spilled flour all over their kitchen counter. Niall swooped in to press a kiss against Harry's cheek, smiling widely as she swiped her finger through the spilled flour and tapping his nose.

"What're you doing?"

"Baking," Harry replied as he started to sweep up the excess flour. " _Someone_ was supposed to keep you out of the house until I was done."

"Sorry!" Louis replied as he sat down on one of the stools in the kitchen. "I tried my best."

"I'm sure," Harry mumbled, smacking Niall's hand when it wandered too close to the cookie dough.

"Harry," Niall whined. "I can help."

"You're going to eat all the dough before they get in the oven!"

"Will not," Niall replied. "Louis, tell him I won't!"

"I dunno, Ni." Louis shrugged. "You do have a bad track record for this sort of thing."

"That was one time," Niall reasoned. "Twice, maybe. Three, tops."

"Uh-huh," Harry answered with a roll of his eyes. "Either way, hands off, Horan."

Niall pouted, propping her chin up in the palm of her hand as she watched Harry meticulously measure out more flour. The three of them stayed silent for a while, the only sounds in the kitchen coming from Harry shuffling around gathering ingredients. Eventually, Niall wandered over to where Louis was sitting and buried her head in his shoulder, letting out soft whimpers as she looked at the cookie dough on the table.

"Poor Nialler," Louis said as he kissed the top of her head. "Big bad Hazza won't let you help with the cookies."

"I could," Niall whined as she reached out for the bowl of dough in the middle of the table.

"Nope!" Harry said as he quickly pulled it away.

"Can I at least lick the bowl after?" Niall asked with a smirk. Harry rolled his eyes as his cheeks turned a light shade of pink, meanwhile Louis started cackling.

"You're not helping," Harry said as he pointed at Louis with the wooden spoon he was holding.

"Never said I would," Louis replied with a grin.

"You did too!" Harry huffed. "You said you'd keep Niall out of the house until I finished the cookies."

"You try keeping this one occupied!" Louis hooked his arm around Niall's neck and pulled her close despite her cries for him to let her go.

"Hey, hey!" Harry called, bringing order back to the room. "Not in the kitchen, yeah?"

"Why not?" Niall asked, smirking again. "Could be fun."

"Niall," Harry mumbled as his cheeks turned even more pink. "Let me finish the cookies, alright?"

"Can I help?" Niall tried again, smiling sweetly at Harry.

"You can get the cookie cutters out," Harry replied. Niall beamed, pulling away from Louis as she started searching through the cupboards for the cookie cutters. "Did you want to help?" he asked, turning to Louis as he stirred the last of the ingredients into the bowl.

"Nah," Louis replied with a grin. "I like watching you two do all the work."

"Of course you do," Niall said as she bent over to open a cupboard, wiggling her arse as she did so. She crowed triumphantly when she finally found the cookie cutters, tossing them onto the table with a smile.

"Perfect," Harry said, turning his back on the bowl full of dough for a minute to grab his rolling pin. When he turned back, Niall had the wooden spoon in her mouth and Louis had his hands clamped over his mouth to stifle his laughter. "Hey!"

"Couldn't help myself," Niall mumbled, looking absolutely not repentant at all.

"See?" Harry said as he snatched the spoon away from her. "Can't let you out of my sight for a minute!"

"What can I say? You make a good cookie." Niall beamed as she leaned over and kissed Harry's cheek.

"They're not cookies _yet_ , and they won't be if you stick around."

Niall stuck out her bottom lip in a pout again as she curled up against Harry's side, making it difficult for him to continue in his cookie making. He managed to wriggle away just enough to be able to keep rolling out the dough, letting Niall's arms wrap around his waist and her chin rest on his shoulder.

By the time the first batch went into the oven, Niall had poached several little bits of dough. Harry was pretending not to notice when she grabbed a bit and tossed it to Louis; turning his other cheek when she popped bit after bit into her own mouth.

When all the cookies had been rolled out and all the dough used up, Harry pressed Niall up against the table and smirked at her.

"Someone's been naughty," he whispered softly.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Niall replied with a wink.

"Louis?"

"Yes, Haz?"

"Do me a favor and take Niall upstairs, yeah?" Harry leaned in close, brushing his lips against the skin of Niall's neck. "Make sure you keep her occupied until I come up there."

"Now _that_ I can do," Louis replied wickedly as he slid off of his stool and walked around the table to pull Niall into his arms.

Before she left Harry's side, Niall grabbed his face and kissed him deeply, grinning devilishly when she pulled away. Harry reached out to smack her arse as Louis pulled her away with a cackle, grinning when Niall cried out in surprise.

After Louis and Niall disappeared upstairs, Harry lasted maybe about ten minutes in the kitchen alone before he joined them. At the very least he had the wherewithal to take the cookies out of the oven, because otherwise they most definitely would've burned.


	20. Exchanging Gifts, Exchanging Smiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall needs a bit of help wrapping his presents.

Niall had piled up all of the presents for his family that he needed to wrap on the dining room table, but even though he'd had all the necessary supplies to do so for days he'd still put it off until the last minute. Zayn had reminded him every day that the longer he put it off, the more he'd have to pay in postage to make sure they all arrived before Christmas.

"Seriously, Niall, you've got to wrap these!" Zayn chastised, as he'd just come home and the pile of unwrapped gifts was _still_ on their dining room table.

"I know!" Niall called back from their bedroom. "I will!"

"Oh, will you?" Zayn said as he stepped into the room with a smile on his face. "Because I think you're going to keep putting it off."

"I hate wrapping presents," Niall mumbled. "M'so bad at it."

"You can't be that bad," Zayn replied, sitting down next to Niall on their bed and tossing his arm around Niall's neck.

"Y'know what?"

"What?"

"If you help me, it'll get done faster." Niall grinned and Zayn rolled his eyes.

"Alright, I'll help. Only because your mum will be sad if your gifts don't get there in time."

"True," Niall replied before pressing a kiss to Zayn's lips. He hummed softly as he did it again, cupping Zayn's face with his hand and trying to tilt him to lie back down on the bed. Zayn wasn't having it though, and he laughed as he pulled away.

"I know what you're doing," he murmured, pinching Niall's side.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Niall replied with a smug smile. Zayn rolled his eyes again before he tugged Niall up to his feet and started pushing him towards the dining room.

Niall reluctantly sat down at the table, pouting when Zayn slid into the chair across from him rather than the one next to him. Zayn shook his head as he pushed a present across the table to Niall, following it with wrapping paper and tape.

"I'm telling you, I'm the worst at this," Niall said with a laugh as he started folding the wrapping paper around the gift with Zayn watching.

Zayn bit his lip to keep from laughing as he watched Niall fold the paper in several different ways, trying not to create too much excess paper at either end of the gift but ending up with far too much anyway. Then when it came to the tape, Niall seemed to believe that the more tape he used the better the gift would look in the long run, as long as he put a big red bow on it in the end.

"There we are!" Niall brandished the gift in front of Zayn's face, and he couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

"I had no idea you were _this_ bad," Zayn said as he laughed hysterically. Niall pushed the gift aside and put his head down on the table, groaning loudly as Zayn continued to laugh.

"I told you! You're the one who didn't believe me!" Niall groaned again as he looked at the stack of presents he still had to wrap. "This is never getting done."

"C'mon, next one." Zayn pushed another towards Niall, grinning gleefully.

"You're not helping," Niall replied, sticking out his tongue. Zayn propped his chin up in his hand, continuing to grin as Niall huffed and started wrapping the next gift.

When it ended up wrapped just as poorly as the first, Zayn was laughing so hard that he nearly fell out of his chair. Niall started pelting him with bows and ribbon, which only made Zayn laugh harder. By the end of it, all of the wrapping supplies were on the floor along with Niall and Zayn.

"You're getting distracted," Zayn said as he and Niall traded kisses.

"You're the one who said you'd help," Niall replied. Zayn shrugged his shoulders, curling his fingers in Niall's shirt to pull him closer.

"Is this helping?" Zayn mumbled against Niall's lips as he dragged his fingers down Niall's torso, making him shudder.

"It's helping something," Niall said with a laugh as he gripped Zayn's waist. "Dunno if--"

Niall's breath caught as Zayn slid his hand underneath the waist of his jeans and laughed breathlessly against his skin. Niall groaned, pulling Zayn closer as they started kissing again.

*

The following morning, Niall awoke to an empty bed. He frowned as he crawled out of it, grabbing a pair of joggers from the floor before he shuffled out of the room in search of Zayn. He expected to find him in the kitchen making their morning tea, but he was surprised to find him in the dining room instead.

"What are you…"

Zayn was sitting at the dining room table where they'd been the night before, but where the pile of unwrapped presents had been now held a pile of beautifully wrapped gifts. He smiled widely at Niall as he put the finishing touches on the last one, a bright gold bow on top of red sparkly wrapping paper.

"Told you I'd help," Zayn replied with a smile.

Niall came forward and pulled Zayn up from his chair and into his arms, kissing him repeatedly even as Zayn tried to push him away.

"You're on your own when it comes to the postage," Zayn mumbled in his ear, making Niall laugh.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll get to that." Zayn gave him a look. "Eventually."


	21. Brightest and Best

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Louis want to make this the best Christmas ever for Liam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Christmas timestamp from this [verse](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2490524).

Six months ago, Liam never would've expected he would be sad about leaving London to go back home for Christmas. Then again, he absolutely never expected to meet Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson and have them welcome him into their home and, as a result, their bed. Even after six months the very idea was still strange to him at times and he couldn't believe that this was his life.

Liam thought he was just a normal guy, going to uni and having his part-time job delivering newspapers. Even his best friend Niall didn't fully believe Liam's luck, even after he was introduced to Harry and Louis. Or, rather, Harry and Louis showed up at their flat to kidnap Liam for the weekend and Niall stood in the doorway gawking until Liam elbowed him so hard he fell over.

But here he was, two days before he was due to leave London for the holidays, on his way to spend his last nights with Harry and Louis at their mansion. It sounded ridiculous even in his head, but there really wasn't a better way to describe where they lived. Not to mention every other house on their block was equally as extravagant, and that always made Liam feel even more out of place.

As they drove down their street in Harry's Range Rover - with Louis and Liam curled up in the back because Louis _refused_ to let Liam sit back there by himself - Liam practically had his face plastered against the window as he stared at all the incredible decorations their neighbors had put up on their own mansions. It was like nothing he'd ever seen before.

"That's amazing," he said in awe. "I always wanted to do something like that at home."

"Why didn't you?" Harry asked, smiling at Liam in the rearview mirror.

"Didn't have the money for the decorations," Liam answered softly. Harry and Louis shared a look while Liam continued staring out the window, frowning when he sighed sadly. "S'alright though, we always had a tree and that's what counts."

"Absolutely," Louis replied as he pulled Liam into a hug.

Liam was oddly disappointed when Harry pulled into their driveway and there were no lights on their property; he'd been sure that Harry would've decorated the place from top to bottom in twinkly lights to his heart's content. He tried not to let it show on his face, but he couldn't help the small frown.

"C'mon, love," Louis said as he tugged Liam inside. "Harry made cookies earlier and I know for a fact there's a whole batch with your name on it."

"Literally," Harry added with a laugh. "I made heart-shaped cookies, so I had to!"

Liam laughed as he took both Harry and Louis' hands in his own and walked inside. They'd already put up their Christmas tree the weekend before, so Liam's spirits were lifted by that. He told himself that he didn't need the outdoor lights, he never had before. Harry and Louis were what mattered most of all and he was lucky to have them.

*

The following morning, Louis was the first one to wake up. Liam was wedged in between himself and Harry, sleeping on his side with his arm across Louis and Harry pressed up against his back. Louis smiled at the pair of them, carefully leaning over to kiss both of their foreheads before he settled back down in his spot.

He couldn't shake the memory of the look on Liam's face the night before; how excited he'd been to see all their neighbor's lights and how sad he'd been when they didn't have any lights at all. Truth be told, Louis never wanted to put lights up on their place because their neighborhood was notorious for competing in Christmas decorations and he thought the whole idea was absolutely stupid.

_Plus_ , he thought to himself, _we'd obviously win so there'd be no contest at all_.

Harry slowly began to stir, mumbling to himself as he buried his head against Liam's neck. Louis watched with a fond smile, laughing softly when Harry opened his eyes and stared up at him.

"Morning," he croaked.

"Morning, love." Louis leaned over to kiss his forehead again, receiving a happy grunt in return from Harry.

"What're you doing, watching us?" Harry teased as he rolled onto his back and stretched.

"Yeah, true voyeur, me." Louis winked and Harry rolled his eyes. "I was thinking…"

"About what?"

"We should get some lights and decorate the house up proper," Louis said as he began tracing invisible lines on Liam's back. "Y'know, for Liam."

Harry smiled widely. "I think that's a great idea."

It took a bit longer for Liam to wake up - and then a lot longer for the three of them to actually get _out_ of bed - but by midday they had all gotten dressed and were on their way to buy as many twinkly outdoor lights as they could carry.

Despite Liam's protests that they were absolutely buying too many, Louis kept adding more and more to their cart saying they couldn't possibly ever get too many. Not to mention, Harry kept finding the most ridiculous inflatable decorations and insisted they had to get every single one.

"We'll upstage those twats next door for sure," Louis said proudly as they were leaving the store.

"Louis," Harry chastised softly. "Our neighbors have been nothing but nice to you."

"Not true," Louis countered, "one of them gave me the evil eye just last week."

"That's because you shouted 'fuck my arse' when you fell playing footie with me," Liam replied, going very red when he repeated what Louis had said.

"I stand by it," Louis said with a wink, making Liam even redder.

*

Harry had ducked inside while Liam and Louis were arguing (playfully, mostly) about where to put the last few inflatable decorations in order to make some tea for them all. However, once he got inside and opened the cabinet with all their ridiculously large tea collection, Harry thought of something better: hot chocolate.

Now, normally, Louis would've refused anything except tea. But given that it was the holidays and this whole thing was about Liam and Liam _loved_ hot chocolate - especially with extra marshmallows - Harry knew that Louis would (probably) let it go.

True to Harry's nature, once he started making the hot chocolate he had to set up a tray of cookies as well to bring out to his two favorite boys. He arranged a rather large plate of them on a tray, along with three mugs of cocoa and eagerly brought it outside - being very, very careful not to trip over anything and let all of his hard work go to waste.

"About time, Haz!" Louis said when he stepped out of the door. "We're ready to plug it all in!"

"I hope this doesn't blow a fuse," Liam said as he walked over to meet Harry, moving to take the tray out of his hands.

"No, no! Take one of the mugs and a cookie!" Harry beamed. Even in the low light of dusk, Harry could see Liam blush as he took one of the mugs and a cookie, leaning in to kiss Harry on the cheek.

"You're the best," Liam whispered. Harry smiled even wider and kissed Liam's cheek in return before going over to Louis and offering him a mug.

"Cocoa?" Louis said as he eyed the mugs. He stared at Harry suspiciously for a moment before breaking into a smile and taking one of the mugs and a cookie. "Good choice."

"Thank you," Harry replied, giving Louis a kiss on the cheek as well. He gently set the tray down on the ground and picked up the remaining mug and a cookie before standing next to Liam, pushing him in-between himself and Louis as he eagerly awaited to see their display all lit up.

"Three...two...one!" Louis plugged everything in and all three of them were rendered speechless. There were so many lights that it was hard to concentrate on one thing in particular, but it was all so lovely that Harry felt like his heart was going to burst.

"It's perfect," Liam whispered.

"Just like you," Harry whispered as he leaned in to kiss Liam's blushing cheek again.

"Agreed," Louis said from the other side, leaning in to do the same. "Happy Christmas, loves."


	22. Warm and Fuzzy Time of Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry brings home an unexpected guest on Christmas Eve.

"Haz, is that you?" Zayn called from the living room when he heard the back door open. "I was starting to wonder--"

Zayn paused as he turned around to see Harry standing in the doorway with a sheepish smile. The reason Zayn stopped talking, however, was because Harry was holding a tiny puppy in his arms.

"Haz...what's that?"

"Our new puppy?" Harry offered, holding the dog up and smiling wider.

"Since when do we have a dog?" Zayn asked, still staring warily at the both of them.

"As of about half an hour ago?" Harry replied as he leaned down to set the puppy down on the floor. "I found her outside the store and I couldn't just leave her!"

"You--" Zayn sighed heavily as he looked down at the dog who was slowly shuffling across the floor towards his feet. "We can't have a dog, Haz."

"But she likes you!" Harry said as he got down on his knees, gently petting the dog as she curled up on Zayn's feet. "See? She fits in already."

"I can't believe you'd bring home a dog without telling me," Zayn said with a frustrated groan. "We've got like twenty people coming here tonight, this is no time to get a new dog!"

"Yeah, but, I couldn't just leave her out in the cold!" Harry frowned. "She would've frozen!"

"Harry--"

"I got her food and a bowl and a bed and all sorts of stuff, she'll be fine in our room for the night and--"

" _Harry_ \--"

"She didn't have a tag and nobody around knew where she'd come from and I _couldn't just leave her there_ \--"

"Harry!" Zayn shouted, startling both Harry and the puppy, who barked once and then started whining.

"Zayn," Harry chastised, "you made her cry."

"For fuck's sake," Zayn grumbled under his breath, "one night, alright? Tomorrow we're taking her to the pound."

"But tomorrow's Christmas," Harry said with a pout. "We can't give her up on Christmas."

Zayn groaned loudly, knowing full well they didn't have time to argue right now with how little time they had left before people were going to start showing up for their party. He bent down to scoop the dog up, quickly transferring her into Harry's arms as he brought them both to their feet.

"One night, Haz. One night."

*

Zayn didn't expect the _one night_ to turn out so spectacularly wrong. As soon as people started to arrive and Harry shut the dog up in their room, she started barking, whining, and scratching insistently at the door.  Zayn tried his best to ignore it, but it was made even more difficult by the fact that Harry kept disappearing every five minutes to check on her.

To make matters worse, nearly every single one of their guests took turns accompanying Harry upstairs to see the new puppy and when they returned to the party all they could talk about was how cute she was.

"Why don't you just let her out?" Eleanor said once she and Harry had reappeared. "She seems sweet!"

"She's a stray," Zayn reasoned. "She could bite someone!"

"So could Lou, and you let him out on his own," Eleanor said as Louis came up beside her with a fresh drink.

"Are you quite finished?" Louis said as he pinched Eleanor's side, making her squeal.

"C'mon, Zayn, can't we let her out for a bit?" Harry asked, pressing himself against Zayn's side. "She's lonely up there, all by herself."

"She'll just get underfoot, Haz." Zayn sighed heavily at the sight of Harry pouting once again.

"She won't," Harry promised with a soft whine. "C'mon, please?"

"Alright," Zayn replied, rolling his eyes. Harry grinned, pressing a kiss to Zayn's cheek before he took off for the upstairs with Eleanor at his heels. Louis laughed as he hooked his arm around Zayn's shoulders, shaking his head at the pair as they left.

"What've you got against this dog?"

"Nothing!" Zayn groaned. "I just-- You know Harry. He falls in love with everything left and right, and then he gets bored--"

"Except with you," Louis interrupted.

"Not the point," Zayn replied flatly.

"Are you worried that the dog is going to replace you?" Louis asked.

"No!"

"You sure?"

"Fuck off, Lou."

"Just checking!" Louis grinned. Zayn rolled his eyes as he tried to get out from under Louis' arm, but he didn't get very far at all. "Y'know, some people would see this as a step forward in a relationship."

"If you're talking about dogs being prep for kids, I swear--"

"I'm just saying--"

"Look who's here!" Harry came bounding into the room with the puppy in his arms, almost immediately shoving her into Zayn's face. She started licking Zayn's nose and he squirmed to get away, groaning loudly as he wiped the slobber away.

"Haz!"

"She likes you!"

The remainder of the party was spent in much of the same way; everyone gushed over Harry's new puppy, feeding her bits of food and otherwise spoiling her. Zayn had to admit, the more time he spent watching Harry carry her around and show her off, the more he came around to the idea of actually keeping her.

By the time all of their guests left, Zayn was sitting on the couch with the puppy on his lap and hadn't been able to move in the last half hour. She'd long since fallen asleep curled up against Zayn and every time he'd tried to get up, Harry popped up out of nowhere and begged him not to move because they looked so cute.

"So…" Harry said with a knowing smile as he carefully sat down on the couch next to Zayn, gently running his fingers through the puppy's fur.

"Shut up, Haz."

"You love her," Harry replied, still smiling widely.

"She's cute," Zayn admitted, looking away from Harry to hide his smile.

"Can we keep her?"

Zayn let out a long sigh and Harry pressed up against his side, nuzzling his nose against Zayn's face and letting out a high-pitched whine to mimic the dog. Zayn held out for as long as he could before he dissolved into giggles and relented.

"Alright, alright. We can keep the dog."

Harry cheered, throwing his arms around Zayn's neck and peppering his face with kisses. Of course, this ended up waking up the puppy who started pawing at Zayn's chest as she tried to wiggle her way between them for cuddles. Zayn chuckled, pushing the both of them away as he transferred the puppy to Harry's lap instead.

"No wonder you wanted her so much," Zayn said, "she's you in dog form."

"I'm taking that as a compliment," Harry replied as he leaned down to kiss the puppy's head. "Also, I've got the _perfect_ idea for our Christmas card."

"Harry, no."

"Harry, yes!"


	23. That Special Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Niall is recruited to help find the perfect Christmas gifts.

Liam had been dragging Niall around to practically every shop in London since what felt like the wee hours of the morning. They'd only stopped for lunch because Niall threatened to punt Liam through the next shop window if he didn't get some food in his stomach within the next ten minutes.

"Honestly, you're over-thinking it," Niall said through a mouthful of chips. "Y'know Sophia will love whatever you get her."

"Yeah, but, it has to be perfect," Liam whined. "And I trust your judgment, Ni. You'll tell me if my ideas are complete rubbish."

"True. That I will." Niall beamed. "Why don't you just get her something sparkly from Tiffany's or summat?"

"Isn't that too cliché?"

"Please. Like any girl would be upset about getting something from Tiffany's for Christmas."

"True," Liam replied with a laugh. "Alright, that's our next stop then."

"Last stop," Niall corrected. "I'm telling you, we'll find something there."

Of course, Liam insisted on looking at every bloody piece of jewelry in the shop before making a decision to even narrow it down. Luckily Niall managed to pull him away from the engagement rings - "never propose on a holiday, Liam, don't you know anything?" - and settled him near the necklaces.

"What d'you think of that one?" Niall asked as he pointed out a beautiful sapphire pendant. Liam hummed softly, tilting his head as he looked at it.

"It's gorgeous for sure, but is it right?"

"For fuck's sake," Niall muttered, "you're such a pain in the arse."

"I'm sorry! I just want it to be--"

"Perfect, I know, I know."

"Can I help you gentleman find anything in particular?"

"I think we're--"

"Yes," Niall interrupted. "My friend here is looking for a gift for his girlfriend and he's driving me mad. Perhaps your professional opinion could help us."

The clerk chuckled as he unlocked the back of the case the two were standing in front of, pulling out a few pieces for them to inspect further.

Niall watched as Liam looked at each separate piece, laughing a little every time Liam turned to him for his opinion.

"She's your girlfriend, mate!"

"Yeah, but you're the one who's here helping me. I want to know what you think."

"Alright, alright." Niall rolled his eyes. "I like that one."

He pointed at a diamond necklace that sparkled even when sitting still. Liam's face lit up at the sight of it, grinning like a mad man and making Niall start grinning as well.

"It's perfect. See, Niall? Couldn't have done this without you."

"Sure, sure." Niall clapped Liam on the shoulder. "Now wrap it up and let's get the hell out of here."

*

The following day, Niall found himself shopping with Liam's better half and he had little to no idea how it had happened. Sophia was acting practically the same as Liam had, pulling him from shop to shop and agonizing over what to get Liam.

"You two are absolutely ridiculous," Niall muttered as Sophia held up a scarf to his neck, asking if he thought Liam would like it.

"Please, shopping for Liam is far harder than for me." Sophia rolled her eyes. "You boys can basically buy whatever your heart desires, so you're impossible to shop for."

"You...have a point." Niall laughed sheepishly and Sophia grinned.

"So do you have any helpful tips for Liam?" Sophia asked. "And before you mention it, he does not need anything else Batman-related."

"You don't have to tell me that," Niall replied with a laugh. "But, uh, I dunno. He likes snapbacks?"

Sophia gave him a blank look and Niall laughed again.

"I don't know!"

"You're the worst," Sophia replied with a groan. "No help at all."

"Well if you don't need me..." Niall took a step back and Sophia latched onto his arm.

"Not so fast. I'll get something out of you, I'm sure."

They ended up at Rolex, looking at watches after Niall mentioned he noticed that Liam had started wearing them a lot more recently.

"See?" Sophia smiled brightly. "Knew I should keep you around."

Niall smiled sheepishly, turning his head to hide the blush in his cheeks. Sophia giggled softly as she leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek before turning back to the salesperson and picking out a watch for Liam.

*

Niall honestly didn't expect to hear from Liam until after the holidays, apart from a 'Happy Christmas!' text on Christmas Day. He certainly didn't expect Liam to text him on Christmas Eve, practically begging him to come over.

_What for ?_

_U'll find out wen u get here :)_

Niall rolled his eyes but texted back that he'd be over as soon as he could. So much for the quiet Christmas he'd been hoping for.

Not two seconds after Niall knocked on the front door, it swung backwards and Liam grabbed a hold of Niall's jacket and pulled him inside. Niall let out an awkward laugh as Liam quickly shut the door behind them and gave him a sheepish smile.

"That was...what's going on, Li?"

"Nothing!" Liam said quickly, gesturing for Niall to go further into the flat. Niall gave Liam a weird look, but he followed Liam's cue.

He found Sophia in the living room, sitting on the couch in front of a roaring fire with a smile on her face. Niall hesitated in the doorway until Liam came up behind him and gave him a little push.

"Go on," he said with a little chuckle.

"Seriously, what's going on?" Niall asked as Sophia pulled him down onto the couch, putting him in the middle when Liam sat down on his other side.

"Well, Liam and I were talking," Sophia said with a smile, "and we wanted to do something extra-special for you since you were so helpful to us."

Niall's eyes flickered to Sophia's neck, seeing the Tiffany's necklace that he and Liam had picked out. Liam put his arm around Niall's neck and as he looked down at Liam's wrist, he saw the Rolex watch that Sophia had bought a few days before. He could feel his cheeks turning red as he wondered whether what he had in mind was the same as what Sophia was suggesting. He absolutely didn't want to be the one to presume and risk making everything extremely awkward.

"D'you mean…" he choked out, trying to clear his throat. Liam hooked his chin on Niall's shoulder, smiling at Sophia as she moved forward on the couch.

"Just want to show you how much we care," Sophia whispered before leaning in to kiss Niall gently on the lips. He couldn't help but freeze when it happened, acutely aware of Liam's close presence.

Sophia giggled softly as she pulled away, her gaze flicking back and forth between Niall and Liam. Niall swallowed harshly as Sophia pressed her hand to his cheek, stroking it with her thumb as she smiled at him.

"Nervous?"

"Bit," Niall answered.

"Don't be," Liam muttered in his ear, making Niall shiver. "S'alright."

"This is mad," Niall whispered. Liam turned his head, brushing his lips against Niall's neck and making him shiver again at the feel of Liam's stubble on his skin.

"You don't have to want this," Sophia said, still stroking Niall's cheek. "Just say the word and we'll stop."

"No hard feelings," Liam added. "Promise."

"N-No," Niall stuttered. "I want."

Liam smiled against his neck, pressing his lips more firmly against the skin and humming softly.

"Glad to hear it."

Sophia smiled, leaning in again to kiss Niall and smiling even more when she pulled back and started removing her jumper.

"Happy Christmas, Niall."


	24. A Little Holiday in Your Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An Ugly Sweater party is the perfect place for Louis and Nick.

Louis had seen him the minute he stepped through the door. He was impossible to miss, with his ridiculous coiff and even more ridiculous sweater. Granted, the whole point of an Ugly Christmas Sweater party was to wear the most outrageous sweater you could find, but Nick had honestly outdone them all.

And Louis was absolutely not going to let it go.

He carefully made his way through the crowd towards Nick; weaving through people while making it seem like he was in no particular rush. He didn't want anyone to know he was headed straight for Nick, especially because he didn't want Nick to even see him coming.

Harry was already at Nick's side, being the amazing host as usual, complimenting Nick on his horrifyingly ugly sweater as he led Nick into the kitchen to get a drink. It was there that Louis was going to make his move, under the guise of refilling his own cup. A perfect plan, if Louis did say so himself.

He snuck up behind the two of them and casually leaned against the counter, waiting until Nick turned around before he made his opening statement.

"Grimshaw," he remarked with a smirk. "That's an absolutely wretched jumper you've got on."

"S'the point, innit, Tomlinson?" Nick replied. Harry gave Louis a pleading look, practically begging him to stop this nonsense right this minute before he went any further. Louis ignored the look completely and his smirk grew larger.

"Did your nan make it for you? Something that ugly had to be homemade."

"Oh, come now, Lewis," Nick chuckled. "You and I both know that your mum made this for me."

Louis laughed sharply, not taking his eyes off Nick for a second. "She must've modeled it after your face. Pity she wasn't given much to work with, eh?"

"Louis, that's enough," Harry cut in. "Stop it, the both of you."

"All in good fun, Harold." Louis smiled brightly at Harry before dodging around the both of them to refill his drink and then rejoin the party. Leaving without letting Nick get another jab in put him in a ridiculously good mood and he certainly wasn't going to waste it.

Louis didn't see Nick again until a few hours later, when he was wandering around the halls of Harry's house with his half-empty cup. When Nick found him, Louis had stopped to lean against the wall for a minute to get a grip on the spinning room.

"Tomlinson," Nick said as he stepped forward, caging Louis in against the wall.

"Grimshaw," Louis replied with a drunken smile. "Top form tonight, aren't you?"

"I could say the same about you."

"M'always in top form," Louis said with a laugh. "Didn't you know?"

Nick chuckled and leaned in further to Louis' face to whisper, "you're such a twat."

Louis' eyes flickered around the hallway, seeing that they were alone before he replied.

"You love it."

Nick laughed again, even softer.

"I do," he replied before he closed the gap between them and kissed Louis. He pressed Louis against the wall as Louis threw his arms around Nick's neck, moaning into his mouth and trying to grind their hips together.

"You're too fucking tall," Louis groaned into Nick's mouth. "Always too fucking tall."

"Sorry, love," Nick replied with a breathless laugh. "Should we maybe find a bed?"

Louis groaned again, seeking out Nick's mouth and twisting his fingers through his hair as Nick put his arms around his waist and pulled him close. He carefully led Louis down the hall into the closest bedroom, thankfully finding it empty and quickly pushing him inside.

"Better?" Nick teased as he pushed Louis down on the bed.

"It'd be better if your mouth was on my dick," Louis replied with a smirk.

"That can be arranged," Nick said with a grin, kissing Louis filthily once more before slipping down his body and quickly undoing his belt.

"Take off that ridiculous jumper," Louis groaned. "I can't look at you in that."

"Alright, alright." Nick grunted as he pulled the sweater over his head and tossed it onto the bed. "Happy?"

"Delirious." Louis grinned. Nick rolled his eyes, but went back to unzipping Louis' trousers. Louis sucked in a sharp breath when Nick's hands brushed against his erection, and moaned when Nick finally pulled his boxers down along with his trousers.

Nick wasted no time leaning down and sucking Louis into his mouth, pressing his hands against Louis' hipbones to keep him pinned against the bed. Louis tried his best to keep quiet to not arouse the suspicion of their fellow party-goers, but he didn't have the best control of his mouth when he was sober let alone when he was drunk.

Needless to say, there was quite a bit of profanity spilling out of his mouth.

Nick didn't seem to mind; in fact, he urged it on by moaning around Louis and digging his fingers into Louis' hips every time he spoke. Louis tugged hard on Nick's hair, the only warning he gave before he came hard down Nick's throat.

"Thanks for that, love," Nick croaked when he'd pulled off and swallowed harshly. Louis grinned in a daze, reaching out for Nick to pull him back down.

"C'mere," he mumbled when Nick hovered above him. He tugged Nick's head down to kiss him again, trailing his fingers down Nick's bare chest and into his obscenely tight jeans in his eager attempt to get at Nick's cock.

"F-Fuck," Nick grunted when Louis finally wrapped his hand around his cock, stroking it quickly as he continued to kiss him messily.

Nick turned his head away and pressed his face against Louis' chest as he jerked his hips into Louis' hand, moaning softly against Louis' skin. He came with a soft cry, his fingers digging into Louis' shoulder hard enough to leave marks.

Louis pulled his hand out of Nick's jeans, reaching for his discarded sweater with a grimace before wiping his hand on it. Even in his post-orgasmic haze, Nick had enough sense to be offended.

"Seriously?" he said with a laugh.

"What?" Louis protested. "It was already a disaster. If anything, I've made it better."

"Keep telling yourself that, love." Nick rolled his eyes. Louis grinned, tossing the sweater aside as he rolled over to press himself up against Nick and bring their lips back together again.

"You love me," Louis mumbled against Nick's lips as he pinched his nipple. Nick flinched, grabbing Louis' hand quickly and pulling it around to rest on his back. He shook his head and smiled fondly at Louis, pressing their foreheads together.

"God help me, I do."


	25. Deck the Halls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry insists that they all have to get together for the holidays.

When it finally came time to go home for the holidays, the boys were all looking forward to a bit of quiet time with their families. It had been a rather long, exhausting - yet still incredible - year and they were all very excited about the break they were getting.

But, the holidays wouldn't be complete without Harry's insisting that they all gather at his house for an evening, just the five of them. Apparently the fact that they'd all just spent the last several months together wasn't enough - Harry _needed_ this time as well.

"It's not the same," he insisted as he convinced the other boys to agree. "This time is just for us, away from everyone else."

"Yeah, yeah, we know," Zayn replied with a smile. "It's the same every year."

"I think it's a good idea," Niall added, getting a bright smile from Harry in return. "It's nice."

"Thank you, Niall."

"Kiss-arse," Louis mumbled, earning a giggle from Liam. Harry rolled his eyes, undeterred by Louis' remark.

"Are you coming then or not?"

"Can't leave you sods all alone, can I?" Louis replied. "You'd be lost without me."

"Definitely," Zayn answered sarcastically. "What _would_ we do without you?"

Liam giggled again, and Louis glared at him for having switched alliances so quickly.

"Traitor," he grumbled.

"Love you, Lou," Liam replied dutifully.

"You'd better, you twat."

*

Harry was very secretive about what they'd actually _do_ at his house once they all gathered there, and the other four were surprised that he actually managed to keep the secret. Usually when Harry had a secret to keep, he was bouncing on his heels just waiting for the chance to spill it to one of them. It seemed to always end up being Niall or Louis that he told, mostly because Louis would poke and prod until he said it. With Niall, Harry was thrown off by Niall's casual demeanor and took it to meant that he was actively trying _not_ to ask and therefore deserved to be told.

Harry's thought process was a thing to be marveled at, for sure.

In any case, Harry was very excited when they all showed up at his house that night. He had an abundant amount of drinks and snacks, but nothing out of the ordinary as far as the other boys could tell. That is, until he'd gotten them all settled in the living room and he disappeared for about five minutes.

"Where's Harry gone?" Liam asked, glancing around the room. "Anyone see?"

"Probably off to the loo," Zayn answered as he sipped on his beer. "Tiny bladder and all."

"Remember the BRITs?" Niall said, laughing along with the others at the memory. "Classic."

"Here he is!" Louis crowed when Harry reappeared. "And he's got…Harold, what're those?"

Harry beamed widely as he brought in five gingerbread house kits. He set them down on the table in the middle of the room and looked at the boys expectantly.

"Well?"

"What're those for?" Liam asked.

"For us!" Harry answered. "Obviously."

"But...why?" Zayn asked.

"I thought it'd be fun," Harry replied, his face slowly starting to fall. "Don't you want to?"

"'Course we do, Haz. Right, lads?" Niall answered quickly, elbowing Zayn sharply and giving Liam and Louis pointed looks until they both agreed. Louis grabbed one of the boxes and inspected it, turning it over as the other boys slowly followed suit.

"So...we just build them?" Louis asked.

"Yeah, why? Haven't you ever done this before?" Harry stared at Louis aghast.

"Not from a kit," Louis replied, still poring over the box. "Bit sad, innit? They'll all look the same."

"Well you've got to be creative," Harry reasoned. "Decorating, and all that."

"We could make it a competition," Louis said with a sharp smile. "Best house wins!"

"Wins what?" Liam asked, giving Louis a confused look.

"The prize, obviously, Liam."

"What's the prize?" Niall asked as he started opening his box.

"No cheating!" Louis chastised, reaching over to slap Niall's hand. He sniffed haughtily as Niall rubbed his hand, then turned to Zayn. "Zayn, what's the prize?"

The other three turned to look at Zayn, who stared back at them. He hadn't even grabbed a box yet, he'd been concentrating on drinking his beer.

"Erm, I dunno," he said with a sigh, "maybe Harry'll suck your dick."

He'd meant it as a joke, but no one laughed. In fact, they all seemed to stiffen and Harry went bright red and started smiling sheepishly.

"But what if I win?" he asked coyly, tilting his head to the side as he kept smiling.

"You'll suck your own dick, won't you?"

"Louis!" they all chorused together, making him jump.

"What? He's been doing yoga!"

They all burst into uproarious laughter, instantly dissolving any tension that had been created. After the laughter subsided, they all began opening the gingerbread house kits and spreading the ingredients out across the table.

"Is there, like, a time limit?" Liam asked before they all got started.

"Nah," Zayn replied, "think, like, just go for it?"

"May the best man win," Louis declared. "And by best, I mean me."

"Obviously," Niall replied as he rolled his eyes with a good-natured smile.

"Give credit where it's due, Nialler." Louis grinned triumphantly.

As they all started on their houses, Louis kept a close eye on the others as he built his own. He was, without a doubt, the most competitive of the bunch and therefore was in the mindset that he had to win. If he had to use dubious measures to do so...then so be it.

Though as he kept watching the progress of his bandmates, it proved to be far easier than he expected.

Liam, bless his soul, kept accidentally breaking his gingerbread pieces when he put two together. He tried using icing to glue the broken bits together, but he ended up making more of a mess than before.

Niall was too busy eating the candy decorations to be paying much attention to how his house was supposed to be put together. And, as Louis looked closer, he seemed to be missing several pieces of gingerbread as well. He reasoned that Niall probably ate those without even noticing.

Zayn, on the other hand, had what looked more like a gingerbread shanty than a house, and didn't seem to particularly care about it. Louis tried not to feel too smug about this, but the grin on his face absolutely gave him away.

And then, there was Harry. He'd been spending all his time and energy creating the most ridiculously elaborate landscape for a gingerbread house that Louis has ever seen. At the rate he was going, there weren't going to be any candies left for him to decorate his house with.

When Louis turned back to his own house, having already put the basic bits together and slapped a few decorations here and there, he found that he was a bit bored with the whole idea. He thought he'd have far more opportunities to sabotage the other houses than he'd been given. So, instead of continuing work on his own house, he leaned over towards Liam's and promptly started drawing a dick on the roof of Liam's house using icing.

"Louis, what are you doing?"

"Drawing a dick, Liam, what's it look like?"

"You've got your own house to draw dicks on, leave mine alone!"

"I'd rather do it on yours."

Liam huffed and elbowed Louis until he stopped drawing dicks on his house, sighing loudly as he turned towards Harry. Louis smiled sweetly as he caught Harry's eye, and Harry shook his head and laughed in reply.

"Don't even think about it."

"M'not thinking about anything."

"Sure," Harry replied with another laugh. "Keep your dicks to yourself, yeah?"

"Thought the opposite was the point to all this," Louis answered with a smirk. Harry rolled his eyes but the pink twinge in his cheeks gave him away and Louis grinned in victory.

He turned his attention to Niall next, who was slowly pilfering candies from Zayn's stash and eating them one by one. Louis picked up a gumdrop from his own pile and lobbed it at Niall's head, hitting him square in the forehead.

"Ha!"

"I'm keeping it," Niall said with a shrug as he picked up the gumdrop and ate it. Louis rolled his eyes, aiming his next gumdrop at Niall's house.

Because Niall had already eaten so much of his house, the impact from Louis' gumdrop was enough to make it crumble into bits. Niall looked sad for about a second before he shrugged again and started eating the remains of his house, smiling at Louis as he did so.

Louis looked at Zayn, who hadn't noticed a thing. He'd given up on his house as well in favor of scrolling through his phone, tapping his finger absentmindedly on the beer bottle in his hand.

"Well I think it's clear who the winner is," Louis boasted loudly.

"What, you?" Liam asked. "Yours is--"

"The only finished one, innit?" Louis grinned.

"I ran out of decorations," Harry mumbled.

"Niall ate his, Zayn doesn't give a shit, and yours has a giant dick on it."

"You drew it!" Liam protested.

"Semantics," Louis replied, waving his hand at Liam. "Point is, I win."

Liam looked to the other boys for help, but Niall shrugged his shoulders and Zayn merely blinked. Harry was too busy nicking the leftover decorations from Zayn's kit that Niall hadn't eaten yet to notice Liam's pleading look.

"Fine," Liam resigned with a sigh, "looks like you win, Lou."

"Excellent!" Louis grinned and elbowed Harry. "Gimme my prize, Hazza."

"What, here?"

"Scared, are we?" Louis raised his eyebrows challengingly and Harry laughed.

"Alright then," he said under his breath as he turned to Louis. "Drop your trousers."

"Ask me nicely! Christ, I'm not that kind of boy, honestly."

"Oh, come on, just do it."

"Can you believe this?" Louis said, turning away from Harry to scoff at the other boys. "He's just expecting me to--"

Harry launched himself onto Louis' lap, going for his belt at once as he caught Louis off guard. Louis managed to grab his hands but in the tussle Harry knocked the both of them out of the chair and onto the floor.

"Harold! Stop that!"

"C'mon, lads! Help!" Harry called.

Niall cackled before getting off his chair and joining them on the ground, not going for Louis' trousers but instead tickling his sides.

"No!" Louis cried. "You dick! Fuck off!"

Liam and Zayn shared an amused look before Liam joined in as well, getting down on the floor and aiding in the tickle attack.

"Zayn! Help!" Louis begged between breaths as he fought against the three pairs of hands wreaking havoc on his body.

"Sorry, mate. You brought this on yourself." Zayn grinned as he too joined the pile of boys on the floor and began tickling Louis.

They eventually gave up after a few minutes, their laughter dissolving into the occasional giggle as they laid on the floor with their limbs tangled. Louis was underneath practically all of them, but as much as he was complaining about it he was actually rather comfortable.

"Can't believe you all ganged up on me like that," he grumbled. "And so close to my birthday."

"It was last week," Niall reasoned.

"Shut up," Louis replied. "Still closer than yours."

"He's got you there, Nialler." Liam chuckled softly and Louis smiled.

"Indeed I do." Louis shifted, pressing his head against Liam's torso and sighing. "Good idea, Haz," he added softly.

"Yeah," Zayn agreed from Niall's other side. "Very good idea."

"Knew it would be," Harry answered with a smile as he curled up against Louis' legs, twisting his fingers with Niall's.

They all stayed like that for longer than any one of them expected, not a single one wanting to be the first to get up and break the connection. What they had was definitely special; something no one outside of the five of them would ever understand, and that was the best Christmas present any of them could've ever wished for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Thank you so much for reading, I can't believe I actually stuck with this and made it through to the end. Hope everyone enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed writing them. Another big special thanks to Ameet for cheering me on every step of the way, you're the absolute best <3

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://imlouisaf.tumblr.com)


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